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412 Food Rescue CEO says the organization ‘is ready for new ideas and a new perspective’

Kara Holsopple
/
The Allegheny Front
412 Food Rescue CEO Leah Lizarondo is leaving the organization in early 2023.

The U.S. Supreme Court vacates ruling involving which Pennsylvania mail-in ballots get counted
(0:00 - 7:49)

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a lower court ruling, which required Pennsylvania counties to count mail-in ballots with undated outer envelopes. The votes in question were for an election last year to fill a common pleas judge seat in Lehigh County.

Republicans argued those ballots shouldn't be counted because state law says a date is required on the outer envelope. But the lower court, the federal appeals court, said the state law doesn't matter here.

“The elections are administered by county elections officials, but the Department of State issues guidance. And I guess the question that's been before the courts is, what if there's a conflict between that?” says Mark Scolforo, a reporter for the Associated Press based in Harrisburg. “If the Department of State says, as is the current guidance, ‘Yes, count them,’ and the counties don't, then that creates a situation where the case, the matter can and has in the past, end up in the courts.”

Scolforo says Pennsylvania’s acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman has said counties should follow what her office has issued as guidance.

Leah Lizarondo is moving on from leading 412 Food Rescue and Food Rescue Hero
(7:54  - 18:30)

Earlier this month, Leah Lizarondo announced she is stepping down as CEO of 412 Food Rescue and founder of Food Rescue Hero by the spring of 2023.

Both entities work to recover fresh food that would have been thrown out, and in the pandemic, 412 Food Rescue delivered food directly to people’s homes.

“412 Food Rescue and Food Rescue Hero is ready for new ideas and a new perspective. And while I am a founder and a co-founder, I want to be able to give the opportunity for growth to its next leader,” says Lizarondo. “There is no better time to do that than now where both organizations are poised for growth.”

By now, the Food Rescue Hero platform has mobilized 35,000 volunteers in various cities. Lizarondo says technology has enabled the companies to scale up their work to include so many people.

“We have a goal internally of serving one hundred cities by 2030 and we are at about 25 cities now,” says Lizarondo.

She plans to stay involved in an undetermined capacity with Food Rescue Hero.

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