For this month's Volunteer spotlight, we talked with Eric Machealer about his family’s involvement with ExtraFood since its beginning. Eric’s wife Carrie, being one of the first employees of ExtraFood brought Eric and their son, Ian, into the world of food recovery back in 2013. For the Machealders', food rescue has become a constant in their lives.
Some of their early rescues were doing the farmer’s market together as a family. It didn’t take long for Eric to develop a passion for food rescue because of its obvious social and environmental benefit. As Eric and his family’s life evolved, he would continue fitting in food rescue where he could. Even though based in Marin, he would pick up prepared food in the city since Ian would go to high school in San Francisco.
As Ian is heading off to college this year, Eric and he dedicated his last summer at home to rescuing food as a father son team. While picking up Woodlands Tiburon or spontaneous trips here and there, they found joy helping the community and spending quality time together.
Thank you to the Machleader family for their commitment to food rescue, a great reminder that taking care of the community is a group effort!