Tell Us What Connected Your Nominee to This Organization
For 17 years, Richard “Doc” McBride ’57, P ’86, P ’90, has been volunteering with Food Finders, a nonprofit whose mission is to eliminate hunger and food waste while improving nutrition in food-insecure communities. McBride began volunteering after he retired from his successful dental practice in 2006. He wanted to help fight hunger, a major problem nationally and globally.
What Inspires You About the Organization, Mission or Your Nominee's Role
The act of rescuing food helps those in need but also improves the environment: reducing water use; reducing greenhouse gas emissions; reducing waste in landfills. One day while loading his car with groceries for Food Finders, McBride noticed fresh flowers being thrown away by a grocery store, and he asked if he could include them with the food items. The store agreed. Now, for years, McBride has also been delivering flowers to nursing home residents in “easy to carry” bundles. He realized that offering up the flowers too fed others' hunger for joy and beauty.
Share Advice to Guide Students Hoping to Pursue a Career with Social Impact or in Nonprofit Industries
McBride’s first advice: call Food Finders and volunteer. He says they are a fantastic organization doing amazing work. He says next to simply look around as there are lots of needs and organizations filling those needs. Reach out, find an organization you find interesting, then volunteer and help make the world a better place. Lastly, you can copy his plan: ask a local grocery store if you can take their unsold flowers, rescuing them from being thrown away. Then find local convalescent homes/senior centers and deliver the rescued flowers to bring flowers and life to the shut-in patients. Doc McBride plans on delivering flowers “until the day I die.”
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