Gozzer's leftovers feed North Idaho's needy

Every day, restaurants, food trucks, and golf courses across the area throw out thousands of pounds of unsold, cooked or ready-to-eat meals. According to the Institute for Environmental Research and Education, 40% of any given day’s food supply will be tossed in the rubbish. 

However, through the Real Life Ministries Community Assistance Program in Post Falls, uneaten hot meals that would otherwise be thrown away feed the hungry bellies of North Idaho neighbors in need. 

"It's a safe place for them to come and talk to somebody," said Steve Abell, who runs the Community Assistance Program. "There's a lot of people that don't have those relationships away from here."  

Three days a week, volunteers serve roughly 100 meals a day to people struggling with rent, utilities, medical bills, isolation and even the quiet ache for help. 

Much of that food now arrives weekly from Gozzer Ranch Golf and Lake Club, which started donating throwaway meals to the Community Assistance Program in June. 

Aluminum pans of carefully packaged and labeled leftovers travel from the private golf club's kitchen to a freezer in Coeur d’Alene, then to the church. During Gozzer's busy season, its donations almost fully offset Real Life's need to purchase and cook meals.

“It was providing me 100 meals a day,” Abell said.

Abell said that assistance program volunteers are trained to treat every visitor “like a guest in your home.”   

“When they come through that front door, we want them to feel Christ’s love,” he said. 

The partnership began with a simple phone call. Gozzer Ranch member David Hay, a seasonal resident of the area, figured the club could do something with leftovers, instead of just pitching them.

But that created another problem: most food banks only accept sealed or unprepared donations, and those that accept prepared food can only take so much because of storage space and spoilage. 

Hay called several places before finding Real Life, which was not only willing but also able to accept large donations of prepared food. Abell described the circumstance as “divine.” 

“They just clicked,” Abell said. “God led this man here.” 

What started as a leftover donation has grown. Hay said he recently spoke with culinary figures within Gozzer, who expressed enthusiasm and interest in volunteering during the ranch’s slower, winter months.  

As Gozzer slows down for the season, so too will the donations, but that doesn’t mean the impact isn’t still being felt. 

“What Gozzer has done and the food they provide, it’s allowed us not to have to dip into our budget to buy food,” Abell said.

Hay said he plans to replicate the success with other clubs and churches in Southern California, his other seasonal home. He sees that arrangement as “ultimate applied Christianity.” 

He noted how often Jesus met people around a table for a meal. 

“If we can get some of these clubs, then you know, [we'll] kind of get it to feed on itself,” he said.