Feeling the love with leftovers for Baltimore people in need of a meal

Our “A Cup Of Soup Or Bowl” week is always best when we’re talking about meeting basic human needs on the streets of Baltimore and Omar Tarabishi of Leftover Love joined Nestor at Faidley’s Seafood in Lexington Market to discuss nourishing the soul with food for the people in rescuing neighborhood food for the less fortunate.

Nestor Aparicio discusses his community outreach initiative, “A Cup of Soup or Bowl,” which encourages donations of canned goods in exchange for soup or a bowl of food at various locations. He highlights the work of Omar Tarabishi from Leftover Love, a nonprofit that redistributes excess food from local businesses to community organizations. Omar explains the impact of the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act, which protects businesses from liability when donating excess food. They emphasize the importance of keeping food local and the role of partnerships with organizations like Enoch Pratt Free Market and Baltimore Community Fridge Network. Nestor also mentions his personal connection to food insecurity and the need for continued community support.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Feature a charity or community organization on Nestor’s show when the organization emails Nestor at Nestor@BaltimorePositive.com as offered (provide feature scheduling details when contacted).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Collect canned goods from community members in exchange for a cup of soup or bowl at scheduled events and deliver the donated items to local pantries/community organizations (keep collections local and drop off to partner pantries).
• [ ] Receive and respond to volunteer and donor inquiries sent to Leftover Love (use leftoverlove.inc.org contact channels to coordinate volunteers, pickups, and donations).

Nestor’s Introduction and Community Engagement

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning the Maryland Lottery and GBMC as sponsors.
• Nestor talks about the community focus of the show, mentioning a pub on social media for community organizations.
• Nestor introduces Omar Tarabishi from Leftover Love, a neighborhood food rescue.
• Nestor and Omar discuss their love for Lexington Market and the various businesses there.

Omar’s Background and Community Involvement

• Omar shares his love for Lexington Market and mentions a food donor, Oven Bird Bakery.
• Nestor talks about his father’s experiences during the Great Depression and how it influenced his community work.
• Nestor discusses his involvement with the Maryland Food Bank and local pantries.
• Omar explains the inspiration behind Leftover Love, focusing on redistributing excess food from local businesses.

Leftover Love’s Mission and Impact

• Omar describes the mission of Leftover Love, which aims to redistribute excess food from local businesses to community organizations.
• Omar highlights the importance of the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act, which protects businesses from liability when donating excess food.
• Omar explains the role of community fridges and the Baltimore Community Fridge Network in distributing food.
• Nestor and Omar discuss the importance of keeping food local and the logistics of food rescue.

Challenges and Solutions in Food Rescue

• Omar talks about the challenges faced during the past week due to weather conditions.
• Omar mentions the importance of partnerships with organizations like Enoch Pratt Free Market and Baltimore Community Fridge Network.
• Nestor and Omar discuss the stigma around food insecurity and the need to eliminate it.
• Omar highlights the role of volunteers and the importance of community involvement in food rescue.

Community Partnerships and Volunteer Opportunities

• Omar emphasizes the importance of partnerships with local businesses and nonprofits.
• Omar discusses the role of volunteers in picking up and dropping off food.
• Nestor and Omar talk about the need for more awareness and involvement in food rescue efforts.
• Omar provides information on how to get involved with Leftover Love, including donations and volunteer opportunities.

Nestor’s Personal Story and Community Commitment

• Nestor shares his personal story of growing up with limited means and the influence of his father.
• Nestor discusses the importance of community support and the role of local businesses in food rescue.
• Nestor talks about his experiences with the Maryland Food Bank and local pantries.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for continued community engagement and support for organizations like Leftover Love.

Final Thoughts and Call to Action

• Nestor and Omar discuss the importance of community support and the role of local businesses in food rescue.
• Omar provides information on how to get involved with Leftover Love, including donations and volunteer opportunities.
• Nestor mentions upcoming events and locations for the show, highlighting the importance of community engagement.
• Nestor thanks the sponsors and listeners, encouraging continued support for community organizations.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Food rescue, Leftover Love, community fridges, food insecurity, Maryland Food Bank, excess food, volunteer opportunities, nonprofit partnerships, food donation, Baltimore community, food safety, food waste, community support, local pantries, food distribution.

8

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Omar Tarabishi

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 tassel, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive positively here at faintly seafood, the world famous Lexington market. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery. I’m gonna have some candy cane cash to give away, as well as our friends at GBMC, we call this week a cup of soup or ball. We’re not at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. I’m not going to the Super Bowl this year. I’ve been to 27 of them. Instead, we are serving the community with cool stories. I put out a pub last week, out on social media for all the folks follow us. And if anybody hears this during the week and you feel like you missed out, you can throw me a note. Nestor, Baltimore, positive.com I will feature your charity, your community organization. You know that to do it on Zoom, even if they do it in February, March, April, May, somewhere down the line, will make it happen. But I’ve been storing up charity, storing up community stories to tell. One of them is left over. Love. It is a neighborhood Food Rescue. Omar terabishi’s Here rhymes with Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi Mitsubishi, Terra vishi. I’m trying to think of any other be. She’s that I know. But how are you? Man? I’m doing well, I appreciate it. Look, I there. I bring people down to Lexington market, and most people want a crab cake. But everybody Jones is somebody. We got to harking here. We got we got businesses. We have Lumbini. I mean, great Baltimore businesses, yeah, there was no problem bringing you down to Lexington market.

Omar Tarabishi  01:24

Oh, no, no, not at all. I love coming to Lexington market. I mean, one of our food donors used to be here, actually, oven bird bakery right around the corner right there. I love me some often. Birds got some great stuff.

Nestor Aparicio  01:32

8

They got some great products. Yeah, some of the best offense in town down in Little Italy, right? That’s right, that’s

Omar Tarabishi  01:37

a little Italy got high on time. They got the rotunda now to three locations, expanding.

Nestor Aparicio  01:41

I’m doing this in the in the last couple years, you’ve been doing it for the Maryland Food Bank, and I do want to give some love to them, of course. And they’ve changed leadership. This year, I’m going to get some folks after this week, that’s right, and be a part of that. And I’ve had Carmen on. And, you know, my dad stood in soup lines in 1929 when Herbert Hoover was the president chicken in every pot. My dad was born in 1919. My dad never voted for Republican ever again. After 29 My dad loved Kennedy, and he would have hated Trump, but my dad would always and this is kind of the beginning of a couple of Super Bowls couple years ago. After 27 years, I did Super Bowls for 30 years. I got blackballed by the league and through the ravens and Chad steel. You can look it up, okay, but the reason I’m here, and I was thinking about, what am I going to do to serve the community? That’s going to be clever, interesting. And you said, is it a couple bowl? And I thought about a cup of soup or bowl would be what we would offer here at Fayette Lee’s or at Koco’s on Wednesday or cost us on Friday, wherever we are, that if you bring me canned goods, I’ll give you a cup of soup or bowl. I like that, right? I like during on a cold day, and I know all the pantries dry up because everybody feels real like charitable during the holidays, exactly, coats food, making money, giving gifts, thinking to God, thinking of good things, right? Not trying not to think of Trump and, you know, better feeling and all the stuff that’s going on. But I didn’t realize early February it’s that’s when things dry up, because when it’s a foot of snow, nobody’s giving anything because they can’t get out of their house. So when I went to do this, all these pieces came together, and this will come to you in feeding people, because my dad, we grew up, I don’t see we grew up poor because I had never, I’ve never had a night in my life where I didn’t have food. So I’m not I was never poor, but we grew up with limited means. In Dundalk, my dad was a steel worker. We always had food on the table. But my dad grew up poor in Scranton, Pennsylvania, with no money, no food in government lines to be fed with bread and soup in the 1920s early 30s, right, freezing his ass off in Scranton, exactly. Herbert Hoover and my dad, when we would walk through the mall as a little boy, I would say, Daddy, I want that daddy. I want that pop. I want to meet. Give me that pop. And my my dad would say, Look, you got $1 in your pocket. He would touch my belly, just he would touch my body. Said, put something on your belly. That’s right, but they got $1 put some in your belly, something your belly, because that’s why my dad thought, because my dad starved when he was a kid, right? Yeah. And I think it’s a psychological it’ll it bust. I promise I’m not gonna cry 13 times this week. But my dad is the reason I think I do this, and having people on here that are trying to feed people, that’s rule one. We need to we education, for healthcare, heating, air conditioning, shelter, all of that. Yeah, sustenance and feeding it is a basic necessity that most of my audience listening on the internet, playing with their phones, planning their next vacation like me, yep, not thinking. I’m thinking about what I’m gonna eat tonight, not if I’m gonna eat Exactly, exactly. And I think this is where you come in, and I will let you give the oxygen. Now you have my story as to how I was inspired, because hopefully I will not starve. But I’ve met people who have starved, yes, exactly. Live with one. I grew up with one.

Omar Tarabishi  04:58

I think we all know someone. Think we all know some. Whether it’s in a community member, it’s a friend, it’s a family member. You know, there’s been tough times. We understand that. I mean, you talk about your father in 1919. My father was born in Syria. You look at Syria right now, that’s a rough spot, Aleppo, Syria. He immigrated and went to Egypt after that at the age of one, and eventually was lucky enough to actually get the lottery and come over to the US on a visa. And so what year did your family arrive then? So my my father came to the US. My family came to us in the 70s, okay, and eventually went back married my mom in Egypt,

8

Nestor Aparicio  05:26

son of an immigrant as well. So, yeah, okay, yeah. And we think about, you know, the people that are ice cubs are gonna get me first. I’ll be second. Okay? I’ll take that. Okay.

Omar Tarabishi  05:40

But we think about exactly those community members that don’t have enough, right? And so my wife and I, we started this organization two years ago, leftover love, because there’s a lot of leftover great products here in the city. We’re talking about oven, bird bakery. We’re talking about THB bagels and deli. We’re talking about not oven, just baked goods, but also cafes and restaurants. They have a lot of surplus, excess food. What happens at the end of the day? What if we could just redirect

Nestor Aparicio  06:03

that to community dumpster, exactly, exactly, put that in somebody’s belly?

Omar Tarabishi  06:06

8

Yeah, and, and there’s laws in place. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act talks about businesses giving to 501 c3, nonprofits giving to nonprofits and saying, this is, this is, this is in good faith that there’s no liability on the business, and so they’re the food. Those nonprofit’s 501 C, threes are able to move that food to different nonprofits or community fridges, which is where I got connected with you. Sure to give back to the community in need. I mean, there’s a lot of great stuff, a lot of great Baltimore based businesses. Why not give back to the Baltimore based community? It makes sense from point A to point B. Give me your

Nestor Aparicio  06:35

background on this. That what would inspire you to create an organization? By the way, yeah, the organization is leftover love. I want to make sure I get that out. I got a sticker here. Oh, here we go. Leftover love. Yeah, what a great name. It rolls off the tongue, right? Friggin love, right. Important thing, right there, all we need, all we need. Our whole

Omar Tarabishi  06:56

thing is, you know, I think we all have a little bit of leftover love to give, whether it’s a donation to the organization. Whether it’s you know, you have some time and some energy to actually pick up and drop off food, to volunteer with us, or maybe you connect us, you know, maybe you know an owner of a business, of a business here in Baltimore, maybe you know the executive director of a nonprofit. Let’s connect, connect us. Connect leftover love so we can make that that food go around. We don’t want any waste. We don’t want people to experience food insecurity. Want to make sure that really great food, really great products from the city, are going to the community that can that

Nestor Aparicio  07:24

needs it. Give me the background of how you got involved. Were you involved in was not you, was not in Food Rescue. None of that, right? I was volunteering, but I was in a completely

8

Omar Tarabishi  07:32

different field. So I graduated with a degree in Arabic language from the University of Maryland, okay? And then I went back to do my master’s in international education policy. So I was working in international so I go to the Middle East. Yeah, I’ll go with you, for sure. I’ll show you around. I’ve been to 50 plus countries, a lot of it is the Middle East. I could take you around. Yes, exactly. Very helpful

Nestor Aparicio  07:51

to get around, right? I’ve never ridden a camel.

Omar Tarabishi  07:55

Come on down. Come on down. We might even be going the

Nestor Aparicio  07:57

8

summer, man. Yeah, I gotta get my pub. My wife just got passport, literally in the mail Saturday. Okay, yeah, put in for it. They said it would be six to eight weeks. And she thinking, well, Trump’s running the government. And the passport came in like, oh, wow, President Trump, you’re doing such a great job. My wife got her passport expedited. She got a but she got her passport back, so she’s ready to go. But I was ready to go to South America in March, but being Venezuelan and America and what this clown has done to our country, around the world. Yeah, I’m gonna chill for a little bit for me. For me, yeah, that’s how I feel.

Omar Tarabishi  08:29

Bit of a laughing stock. I mean, we were just abroad, my wife and I over the summer, and looking at the news, looking at what the laughter is gonna become, anger, exactly, exactly, yeah. And the international community is, you know, it looks like the wild west over there. Literally, the wild the world is about trust, right? Exactly, and there’s not a lot of trust right now, yeah, well,

Nestor Aparicio  08:47

the man who saved my wife’s life is German, okay, he’s come over and we’ve my wife’s had two bone marrow transplants. 12 years ago, she had leukemia. She was a 911 first responder, speaking about Muslims in America, like, oh yeah, my wife was a first responder in New York at 911 and got cancer. And got cancer. So the man has saved her life. He can’t even come over here and visit now, because the German government’s like, you don’t want to go over there, exactly. And I don’t. I would love to go to Chile and chase AC DC and Brian Adams. And I would love to go to Columbia, go to Medellin and, you know, like, do I was gonna do anyway, yeah, I’m not doing any We appreciate it. We appreciate it. But I think there is a point where you feel that you have to do this exactly, and I think that’s where it

Omar Tarabishi  09:32

comes from, right? So my background was international education, Arabic, language and cultural education was what I was doing before I started leftover love. And I said, let’s take a couple steps back, right? How can I advocate for children here in K through 12 public and public charter schools to learn a new, difficult language? They call it a category five or critical language here in the United States, Arabic. It’s tough. There’s a lot of contact hours to get to those higher levels. How can I advocate for taking this language when some of these students don’t have food to eat, they don’t have food at homes, or is it going back on? The weekends when they’re not in school and they don’t have food at home. So I wanted to take a couple steps back and let’s, let’s talk about food insecurity. Let’s talk about getting food into the bellies of some of these students before we talk about All right, now I need you to focus in school. Now I need you to get these really high scores in your assessments. I would just want to, I want to relocate food right? So I thought about, what did these great businesses here in Baltimore, where they have to offer the end of the day, some of these bakeries are closing at three o’clock or four o’clock, still pretty early in the day, right? And they create so much of a surplus. What happens? All right? So some of them do compost. That’s great. But what about the others? A lot of these other businesses, these cafes, these restaurants, these bakeries, some of them toss out a lot of high quality stuff. So what if we could, if it comes down to just a logistics and a transportation issue, maybe.

8

Nestor Aparicio  10:40

So what is that? Well, I was going to tell you with Maryland Food Bank, and you know this, yeah, that I could have people, and it, it’s DOM at fadeley’s, right now I’m not expecting a lot of canned goods. Is three years ago, I had a lot of goods, and every day people were coming by to pick things up. And then I got involved with local pantries, you know, Catonsville emergency assistance as an example, right? Or Soup for the Soul and Dundalk, yeah, just places, churches in all sorts of communities with pantries and food, not let alone you’re mentioning schools, Baltimore County, every school, every middle school, ever the elementary school has a pantry under elementary school. That’s shame free, guilt free, exactly, to get a meal you want, leaving. You know, all of the things that I grew up kind of poor, and Dundalk, where half the kids in my elementary school had little food stamps, yeah? And I always wanted them, because I thought that was kind of cool. They got free lunch. Yeah, they come in, and my parents like, you don’t want to free lunch. My dad would say, you don’t. You got $1 you buy your lunch, you know, you know, fill your stomach dollar. Richie and James, their mom single and they don’t have as much and but I grew up with that in 1976 7778 Yeah, I think the modern part of that is shame, guilt, this feeling about being on the dole, or the way people look down upon people who do have WIC or food stamps or get some sort of credit. I I’m trying to eliminate that stigma through my audience exactly right and left, east and west, Trump or non Trump, because, like, we’re talking about children here, yeah, in our community, that you wouldn’t know it, you wouldn’t see it, I wouldn’t recognize it. But these kids don’t know where their next meal is coming from, exactly, literally, literally, I have food in my refrigerator. You have food in your refrigerator? Yeah, I just don’t think we can take that for granted in a modern world and and the more understanding we can give, and you’ll speak to this, the shame part of it, right? Yeah, the part of it is those kids that had stamps in school, they weren’t made to feel ashamed of that when I was a kid, yeah, like, the modern world was a little bit different about what I got, what you have.

Omar Tarabishi  12:45

And it’s a, you know, social media, I think, has a big part and to play in that. I mean, I think, you know, kids and you know, we hear stories about bullying, we hear stories about, you know, what this kid might have, what this kid might not, and how that kind of affects friendships and relationships. It’s difficult. It’s not easy, right now. Well, I think what you know, some of our partnerships, that I wanted to highlight that do a really fantastic job of kind of making sure that the people or the community members that are visiting some of some of these partners don’t feel that are Enoch Pratt Free market, for example, where they have a really nice, well lit space where people can come in and pick and choose what they want. And so that’s one thing I wanted to highlight, is that in the past, there’s been a lot of food disturbing. Distribution efforts. Here’s a bag exactly, right, right. Here’s a bag. And then you walk down the street, or you walk around the corner, you find, I don’t eat this exactly. Some of these things are tossed, literally tossed out on the ground. So what I really like is Enoch Pratt, free market allows choice and agency. So you get to walk through the market, take what you want to eat exactly, almost like you’re grocery shopping for free. There’s no price tag. So you go in, you pick and choose what. You want to put in your bag and you walk you walk out of there and you know, every product that you put into your bag you’re going to take home, you’re going to maybe create something nice for your family. So I really like what Enoch Pratt Free Mark has done, one of our partners. I also like Baltimore community, fridge network. It’s how I actually got connected with you, is that they are really filling a need for us, where we have some really small rescues, where it doesn’t make sense for us to come to a school or a nonprofit with just a small bag, but we’re able to stock some of these community fridges, so neighbors, as they come and go down the sidewalk, can open the fridge, take what they want, close the fridge and get out.

Nestor Aparicio  14:10

This is what I learned, that if I dragged a bunch of people down here to Lexington market a day when there’s a foot of snow, yeah, and they brought a bunch of canned goods in here, then the Maryland Food Bank would have to bring a truck over, yes, to take it to a warehouse where it may or may not get distributed within a day or a week or three days, and then it’s gonna make its way to Glen Burnie or Dundalk, or maybe back down here across street, we don’t know, right? So the idea would be, keep it local. Keep it if Hubble birds giving you food in Little Italy, you’re not trying to ship it to Cumberland. No, you’re trying to give it away. In Canton, right, or very ill, or, you know, in northeast Baltimore.

Omar Tarabishi  14:45

8

And it goes, you know, hand in hand with one of our values, right? We want to be efficient. And in food rescue and food safety standards, there’s a certain time limit to deliver that food, pick up and drop off, right? And we have no interest in ever having a brick and mortar or a storage or a warehouse that we all. Are truly picking up food fresh. You really are transporter, exactly. We are transportation.

Nestor Aparicio  15:05

Yeah, we’re picking up their bags someplace where somebody can

Omar Tarabishi  15:10

pick it up there, can consume it, either there or the day of, for a day or two, sure, exactly. But those are the partners that we work with, right? So it’s nice that we have volunteers that are going to ovenberg Bakery. They’re picking up that food and they’re going right around little location, for example, right around the corner is helping up mission, all right? Helping up mission is, you know, large standing nonprofit that helps those

Nestor Aparicio  15:30

that are struggling, where I took all my stuff six months, exactly, right? So they get men off the street down there,

8

Omar Tarabishi  15:34

yeah, and across the street the women and the children, right? So they have fresh bread. Now, they have bagels, they have pastries. They have almond croissants, chocolate

Nestor Aparicio  15:42

if anybody’s been helping on mission, see the work they’re doing. That’s helping. That’s the real deal. That’s the real deal. Yeah.

Omar Tarabishi  15:47

And then they, you know, they’ve been lucky enough, and they’ve been kind enough to give us tours of that we’ve been taking volunteers to see what guys is

Nestor Aparicio  15:52

8

about voting his charity and everybody else’s chair. No, no, for sure. I mean, it’s our it’s our partners.

Omar Tarabishi  15:57

It’s a partnerships, right? This is how this is the success that we’ve been able to get over the last two years is because of the partnerships with partnerships with Enoch, Pratt, oven, bird, Baltimore community, fridge network, helping up and the many, many other partners.

Nestor Aparicio  16:08

Give me the many, many other tell me plug away, because, by the way, leftover love is here. Omar terabyte, she’s here. Word fade. Least it’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery and our friends at GBMC. It is a cup of soup or bowl. And if you’re just tuning in, you want to know what it’s about, it’s it’s about the community. It’s about, yeah, let’s feed some people. It’s cold as hell outside.

Omar Tarabishi  16:25

It is they care some people. I mean, speaking of last week, last week was tough with the snow, with the ice. You know, a lot of our volunteers called out. Transportation was difficult. Some of our volunteers couldn’t, couldn’t get their cars out. So then even food donors to a lot. There was a lot of closures. A lot of businesses were closed. And so, okay, how are we going to get a volunteer to this place? All right? This, place is closed. And what does that mean for the food recipient organization, some of those partners that I’m that I mentioned, they might be waiting on food. They might be waiting on a delivery that’s not coming through because of the weather. So it’s been a difficult week this past week, for sure. But I like that, you know, we’ve been able to restructure and kind of move a couple things around. You know, my wife and I were able to step in. Some of our friends and neighbors were able to step in. They were able to get their cars out, yeah, to go make some of those rescues. So you asked me to plug away on some some other partners, I need to give a shout out to Charm City care, connection, the CCCC, that’s up 1214, North Wolfe Street. They’ve been doing some really fantastic let’s get

8

Nestor Aparicio  17:13

these people on next year through the year, doing a big fundraiser. That’s the idea for me is, yeah, you’re dropping all these names and like helping up mission I’ve been doing a decade, collected hundreds of coats for men. 15 years ago, took it down there. I took the stuff in my closet down to them. Six months ago, double parked out there. Now, you know, I did go around a corner there and picked up some French pastries. But I think these smaller groups that you’re mentioning, this is exactly at the heart of everybody knows, the Maryland food bank. They don’t know how many arteries there are out exactly the people the Maryland Food Bank would be the first ones to say that you’re as needed as they are.

Omar Tarabishi  17:57

Yeah, sure. I think there’s always room for something else, right? So Maryland Food Bank is such a large a large organization, they do such fantastic work, but there’s some, there’s some cracks to fill, right? And so small organizations like ours, some small, you know, grassroots organizations, smaller nonprofits, that can really fill and speak to the mom and pop shops or the small bakeries that are out in these corners here in Baltimore. That’s, that’s what we can help with, right? Where Maryland food bank might tackle the large grocery stores, the Walmarts, the Panera, the whole foods of the world, for sure, but I think there’s still room, and there’s still conversations to be had with the small mom and pop shops that are opening and say, Hey, I know I shop here and I get my coffee here. I know that you probably have some excess food at the end of the day. What do you guys do with it? It’s an easy conversation have with the owner, where you don’t have to jump through the corporate bureaucracy of going to a Panera or going to a Starbucks where you might not get any in, any any headway

Nestor Aparicio  18:45

well, and part of that for all of those businesses, and at least the enlightenment of my audience, if you drive around the beltway and you’re listening, or if you’re out on the web, I appreciate all of you for for tuning in this week, but the awareness that every fadeleys is going to Have a crab cake that might be going out of date, or a piece of fish or whatever it is that every one of these businesses in the past and maybe in the 70s and 80s, if you worked backstage at a Geno’s back in the day, or McDonald’s, you saw them throw a lot of you. Yeah, you see it. If you work in the industry, you know just if you wait at tables, you see somebody eats half a cheeseburger and half it goes into it. You’re from another part of the world. Your family came here. I mean, Venezuela. We’re trying to get food to families there. We talk about our country going in there, bombing them and taking their government away, stupidly, yeah, but people are starving all over the world. And exactly my parents always would say that, you know, there’s kids starving in Africa, starving in West Baltimore, exactly. And he’s

Omar Tarabishi  19:46

8

exactly, you don’t have to go to another continent. You don’t have to go to another country, but it’s here in the city and and you see that in Baltimore.

Nestor Aparicio  19:52

But part of that, and I think, in our house, in growing up in America in the 70s and having parents and having a dad who starved, is that they. Would say, literally, there are kids starving in Africa. Eat that tuna fish. I know you don’t want it. Eat those peas. Finish your meal, finish your eat everything on your plate, right? That’s such enough. Yeah, it’s such an old school thing. But yeah, the idea would be, there are people starving other places, so be grateful for what you have. And then I go and get a job somewhere fast food, and they’re throwing food out of the back door. Yeah, I hope we’re doing less of that as a culture than we used to do.

Omar Tarabishi  20:29

Yeah. I think, I think cities, I think some movements, there’s, there’s, you know, food rescue is now becoming a little bit more prominent. You’re, you know, the the Food Recovery Network, for example, that started university of maryland, has now made its way really nationwide. It’s in a lot of universities, a lot of colleges in the US, but the US still leads the world in terms of food waste. 40% of food created in this country is waste. Don’t say that 40% look it up. 40% Nestor, it’s crazy.

Nestor Aparicio  20:52

It’s really not to mention, yeah, things harvested, not getting harvested, feel Yeah. And there’s, they’re putting people look like me, and concentration camps, but that, there’s, there’s

8

Omar Tarabishi  21:01

some really fantastic organizations that tackle the farms and the grocery stores. I want to give a shout out to imperfect foods or misfits markets, all that you know that misshapen produce that may not do so well at grocery stores. Well, you can still, you can still purchase it, and you can,

Nestor Aparicio  21:15

they sell it at a reduce my wife buys the bump and dent things.

Omar Tarabishi  21:18

My wife as well, exactly. We’re big, big fans of imperfect foods, right? But when you think about All right, so that, you know, Maryland Food Bank handles some bigger, some bigger fish. What about, what about the smaller mom and pop shops? What about, you know, the new Baker that opened in Highland town, good boy bagels is a great example. You know, good boy bagels opened up on Conklin, maybe, maybe one and a half two years ago. That’s right by Enoch, right? It’s on Conklin Street, right? So we walk over and we say, Hey, you guys just opened. We’re a Food Rescue. We’re here in the community, like my wife and I live in Highland town. Could we? Could we rescue your leftover bagels? Sure, and that’s it. We have a partnership with good boy bagels. And so that leftover bagel that goes across the street to Enoch Pratt library, it goes literally two blocks down, and people are able to come in and get some, get some day of bagels.

Nestor Aparicio  21:59

8

I’m sorry I’m being such a political prick today, keep ice out of Highland town. Exactly. Yeah. I grew up in Highland town, right? So I grew up Dundalk. Look at that. Every Friday night, my parents and I would go to Greektown. What was a loaners and was Italian, yeah? And we would get pizza. And then Saturday I took all my guitar lessons at Jaeger’s music. Look at that, right? You know, Highland Avenue. There’s the whole deal. Yeah, I walked up and down Eastern Avenue Epstein shock. It’s just all my luck. I mean, yeah, all of my shopping, every every pair of Husky jeans I ever had came from Epstein’s back in 1978 and so it is amazing that Syrian immigrants. But when I go to Highland down there, all I see are people that speak Spanish. And I was the only Hispanic kid to ever walk nothing started he started it. That was it, yeah. I mean, yeah. You couldn’t even get a chorizo in island town in 19 different times. Yeah, lived here long enough to see fellas like Omar Tara beach. She is right of Syria through Egypt, of America here. Well, you know, I gotta get what is a misconception about Syria that I should know, or people should know because I’ve met some Syrian people, and about a decade ago, I had a friend who’s Syrian who worked in a restaurant that I knew her and her family, and they came, and this is when all the really awful stuff was going on, maybe 1215,

Omar Tarabishi  23:26

years ago. Yeah, so 2020, 1020,

Nestor Aparicio  23:29

11, and everything that happened there for your relatives, my family’s Venezuelan people ask me about it every day. I wish I knew more, because even getting information, I think, difficult in countries where they will kill you for speaking. Yeah, yeah, my cousins don’t even want to write to me on Facebook because they’re afraid of it. Yeah, they’re more afraid of my government than their own.

Omar Tarabishi  23:50

Wow, at this point, yeah, yeah, no. I mean, that’s valid. I mean, I’ve heard things. I’ve heard stories from my friends in Egypt during the Egyptian revolution. I’ve heard stories from, you know, my relatives, most, most of my relatives, are out of Syria, so everyone’s in different parts, but in different parts, but in Egypt, specifically, Egyptian Revolution. I mean, that was also tough times as well. I have some friends that maybe, exactly, yeah, you saw it live. You saw, I mean, started with social media. Started with movements across, you know, the Arabs,

8

Nestor Aparicio  24:14

the first social media. Yeah, first thing that happened on Twitter, 910, 11. You’re right. You’re right. You’re right. Exactly. That can’t happen on Twitter anymore because of Nazi owned it. So, yeah,

Omar Tarabishi  24:24

so that’s true. I mean, what you know, what I want to highlight is that, you know, the misconception is, you know, we have love to give, right? You know? So the hospitality of the Arab people, the hospitality of Egyptians and Syrians, is, come and try our food. Come inside of our home. Let us serve you tea. Let us serve you coffee. It is, it is that warmth, right? It is that that leftover love. It’s that love to give to your community members. And so we’re basically, we’re bringing that, we’re bringing that to Highlands. I’m bringing that to Baltimore, right? It’s coming from my family. It’s coming from the neighbors, the community members, the people that believe in this, in this mission of rescuing leftover food, is we want to give back, and there’s different ways to give back. We know that everyone doesn’t have the capacity. We know that you don’t have the time. Or the energy to perhaps take bagels and make sandwiches at it. But we know that, hey, you know you work from home, all right, maybe you have an hour of your day to go pick up and drop off. That makes a big difference for a nonprofit, to give them agency and choice so that they’re not just having cereal.

Nestor Aparicio  25:13

For some volunteers to drive the back of here over there to feed people. We’re always simple. We’re all exact simple.

Omar Tarabishi  25:18

8

It’s a pickup and it’s a drop off. We don’t, we don’t want to ask anything more of our volunteers. Of course, there’s many that go above and beyond. Specifically with bcfn, they want to create, you know, different sandwiches. They would create, you know, bagels with cream cheese with locks. They want to stock fridges all over the city. That’s amazing, but we understand that people have different capacities, right, especially now it’s a difficult time. But if you have, hey, you have 30 minutes to an hour out of your day, and hey, you live in Canton, and we have a rescue in Canton, you just pick up and drop off. We have many partners all over the city, so we make it convenient for the volunteers, so they could pick up and drop off within a timely manner.

Nestor Aparicio  25:48

The amazing thing you just said is, you know, I’m Middle Eastern, I’m Syrian, I’m Egyptian. I would have you in my home. I’m gonna give my wife. Yeah, that’s everybody’s culture. It is everybody’s culture. Is you want to share that? Share that love. I want to feed you. I want to feed you. I want to feed your ability. If I feed you, we can be friends. Exactly. We can have a meal. Yeah, break bread. We break bread. She’s here. The group is called leftover love. I love the name of it. Tell everybody how to find you, leftover love, was it?

Omar Tarabishi  26:21

Inc.com, that’s right, yeah, leftover love. Inc.org.org, and you can find us on Instagram at leftover love. Inc, that’s our handle. We’re also on LinkedIn, always looking for donations. We’re 501, c3, nonprofit. We’re always looking for volunteers. If you have some time, some energy, come rescue, some food with us. But also if you have some connections, if you know a business owner Baltimore food based business owner here in the city or in surrounding area, or a nonprofit organization that could use some of our donations. Get in touch. Thanks.

Nestor Aparicio  26:49

Man, I appreciate it. Man, I’m making new friends. I love about a cup of Super Bowl. Yeah, put one social media thing at last. You rupturing me. A lot of people are just like, yeah, yeah. So if you want your community or charity organization featured, like our friends at LTC, but I know what I didn’t hold up, so I have a love drive. They’re having a love drive. LTV, leftover love. What’s the theme today? It’s not hatred, definitely love. All right, I like that. So help our friends out. It’s all brought to my friends at the Maryland lottery. I have scratch offs here somewhere, but they’re in my bag. Hold on here. I’m gonna do it right now. Give you one man. Oh, all right. Down here I walk off my set candy cane cash brought to you by the Maryland lottery friends at GBMC. There you go. One for you. I appreciate it like Oprah. You get it. Our friends at GBMC also putting us out on the road. We have a new sponsor in Furner and Farner and Dermer. My gosh, they’re coming to take care of my eight track on Wednesday. They’re sponsoring all of our sports board. They are the comfort guys. I’ll be talking more about that. We’re here at faidley’s at Lexington market on Tuesday. We’re going to be at El Guapo over in Catonsville Wednesday, where Koco’s Thursday, we moved the show back to Essex in the homeland. I’m going to be down at Pizza John’s, eating french fries and gravy, and then on the break their own bread down there. Friday, we’re going to be at a Costa centimonium as well, eating some probably got some crab Imperial, because I want to feel like royalty during a couple Super Bowl week, we’re creating awareness for the Maryland Food Bank. I’m not getting as many donations, but as people do, bring canned goods my way, and they will later in the week, they’re all gonna wind up in the back of my trunk, like last week. We wind up dropping them off at a church in Hamilton last year in the basement, because their leader came all the way out to Timonium, and I didn’t have anything to give, so I gave it all to them. Nice. Yeah, so that’s what I’m trying to do, is anybody? It’s probably gonna wind up at the Super the soul and Dundalk here this week, my friends over there. So stay with us. We’re doing Baltimore positive. I’m Nestor. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. It is a cup of soup or bowl from fadley’s. We’re Lexington market. Stay with us. We’re telling some good stories and meet some cool people. You.