A Simple Gesture coalition ends, Food Link takes over FISH platform

Food Rescue Collaborative will cease operations effective June 30, 2026, and Food Link will take over management of FISH, the Food Information Sharing Hub that helps hunger-relief groups post or claim surplus food in minutes.

The handoff puts a regional coordination tool in new hands at a moment when food rescue networks are being measured less by mission statements than by whether their software, warehouse links and pickup relationships survive intact. FISH was built as a near-real-time information hub so agencies could share shelf life, pickup time and destination details fast enough to keep usable food moving instead of sitting idle.

Food Rescue Collaborative said the platform grew out of pandemic-era organizing that began in March 2020, when food rescue agencies started gathering to build a new model for distribution after COVID-19 exposed fragility and inequality in the food system. The effort was formalized in June 2021 as a 501(c)(3), and its founding coalition included Food Link, Boston Area Gleaners, Daily Table, Spoonfuls, Food for Free, Food Rescue US, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, About Fresh and Somerville Community Fridge.

The organization framed its work as a response to three problems: underused food rescue capacity, weak shared communication systems and redundant logistics. It also said the United States now wastes 10 million more tons of food each year than it did a decade ago, while some communities go under-served and others receive more surplus aid than they can move.

Food Link, headquartered in Arlington, Massachusetts, with a shared warehouse distribution facility in Roxbury, Massachusetts, said it will continue FISH’s role for organizations that reduce food waste and improve food access, while exploring broader participation and added functionality. In 2025, Food Link said it rescued 2 million pounds of fresh food, equal to 1.7 million meals, with support from 1,000 volunteers and 15 staff across 53 communities and 120 recipient agencies.

Rachel Albert has served as Food Link’s executive director since spring 2021. Food Rescue Collaborative’s board said it could not imagine a better future steward for FISH, and thanked the nonprofit leaders, food access advocates, volunteers and government and community partners who built the platform.