At Olive Chapel Elementary in Apex, students are learning that what they leave on their lunch trays can help feed someone else. Since joining SHARE 鈥� Stop Hunger and Restore Earth 鈥� in 2025, the Wake County public school has turned food waste into a hands-on lesson in fighting hunger and protecting the environment.
The SHARE program 鈥渆nsures that all kids are fed,鈥� said Ashley Charles, one of the school鈥檚 assistant principals. 鈥淔or kids who maybe don鈥檛 have snacks or [who] need extra food, it鈥檚 a way that we can save food and make sure they鈥檙e getting what they need.鈥�
That need became clear in the cafeteria, where staff saw how much unopened and unpeeled food was being tossed each day. Teacher assistants assigned to lunch duty had voiced concerns for years about the volume of uneaten food waste ending up in the trash. 鈥淲hen we found out that this program existed, we were like, 鈥極kay, it鈥檚 time. We鈥檙e going to give this a try,鈥欌�� she said. SHARE is a food recovery program created by Toward Zero 豆包成人版, a North Carolina-based nonprofit, alongside Wake County Public School System.