Local chef tackles Draft food waste with ‘Rooted’ mission

GREEN BAY – To promote sustainability and combat food insecurity in the Green Bay area, local nonprofit Rooted In Inc. will collect food from the NFL Draft and redistribute it across the city.

The effort is being made possible through partnerships with caterers and food vendors working inside the Draft footprint, who will set aside excess food for donation.

That food will be distributed to community fridges at Joannes Park and Samaritan’s Heart Ministry Church, as well as NEW Community Shelter and Freedom House.

Behind this effort is Selena Darrow, a lifelong chef and founder of Rooted In, who was inspired by a similar project during last year’s NFL Draft in Detroit.
“In December of last year, I was connected with the nonprofit that collected food from Detroit,” she said. “They told me they rescued over 73,000 pounds of food. That’s what inspired me to actively work towards setting this up.”

Darrow said the project reflects her lifelong passion for food and helping the local community.

“Starting Rooted In is deeply personal to me. I’ve been a chef basically since I was four years old. Food has always been my passion. About two years ago through my business Culinary Innovations, I built service into my model and started identifying gaps in our community that weren’t addressed in food industry work,” she said.

“I know what the challenges are trying to climb out of poverty… I want to be a role model for our community to show other people that if you’re resilient and focused on your own personal growth, you can become the best version of yourself, and then you’re able to give back to your community in the way that I’m doing.”

The amount of food collected each day from the Draft will vary.

“I’m told some days it might be just a few pans of food, and other days it could be up to 30 pans of food,” said Darrow.

A team of volunteers will assist with the collection process, responding on an on-call basis to help pick up and distribute food.

In addition to the food recovery work, Rooted In Inc. is launching new programs aimed at community wellness and connection.

These include custom cooking classes designed to teach essential skills and two programs called Mindful Meal Rx and Rooted Within.

“Mindful Meal Rx is a shared mindful meal that unites people around three intentional stanzas, interwoven with poetry and music to foster connection and cultural exchange,” said Darrow. “Rooted Within is a wellness initiative grounded in intuitive eating principles to equip people with the tools to make nourishing food choices while developing sustainable habits.”

The work of Rooted In would not be possible without the help of volunteers and donors.

Contributions go toward food recovery efforts and programs that serve the local community.

For more information, visit rootedininc.org.