Columbus teen's student network redirects $100K in surplus food to shelters

Jiya Patel, a 17-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, co-founded a nonprofit called Thrive2Gethr after observing hunger during a visit to India and learning about the scale of food waste. The student-led organization mobilizes volunteers to collect surplus food from restaurants and bakeries and redistribute it to shelters and food banks. Thrive2Gethr has grown to approximately 1,200 members operating across 40 chapters throughout the United States. To date, the network has successfully redirected over $100,000 worth of food that would otherwise have gone to waste.