In our April issue, I wrote about hunger think tank Rock and Wrap It Up! (RWU), which had created the Rock and Wrap It Up Whole Earth Calculator mobile app for the Super Bowl. Since then, RWU founder Syd Mandelbaum and Meeting U. President James Spellos, CMP, have continued to spread the word about RWU’s mission — to recover leftover food at events for donation to those in need. The Whole Earth Calculator makes those contributions real, by converting the pounds of food into how many meals served — and how much CO2 and methane gas is saved by the food not rotting away in a landfill.

And last week, The White House released a press release/fact sheet on The White House’s Climate Data Initiative, singling out RWU and the Whole Earth Calculator as a noteworthy initiative. Jim emailed me the exciting news, saying, “We’re really thrilled about it, and as you know,  I’m trying my best to get planners to understand how they can be part of food recovery and feeding the hungry from [leftover] food at their events. Hopefully, this is the first of an extended app that will help planners better understand how they can integrate sustainability in their conferences.”

Well done, Jim, and congratulations to you and Syd on getting the recognition your good work deserves!