Now in its 28th year, Rock and Wrap It Up! is currently recovering food from countless different productions. These productions include TV series, feature films, and talk-shows with locations including, but not limited to, Los Angeles, Portland, Atlanta, Boston and New York. Rock and Wrap It Up! is happy to announce their 20th year working with the entertainment industry, garnering partnerships with productions at NBCU, Warner Brothers, SONY, ABC, Disney, Netflix, HBO, Showtime, It’s A Laugh Productions, New Line Productions, and Peach Tree Cinema.

In addition, Rock and Wrap it Up! (RWU) is an award-winning anti-poverty think tank which focuses on research, discovering and nurturing potential sources willing to share renewable assets. Their donors include touring bands, educational institutions, the hospitality industry, professional sports teams, hospitals and TV/film shoots throughout North America.

We talked with Jessie Plotkin, National Asset Recovery Director, to learn more about this wonderful organization.

JAM: How did RWU get started?
JP: In 1990 Syd Mandelbaum, the Founder & CEO, was backstage at a Rolling Stones concert. Everyone was partying, no one from the huge entourage was eating. Syd looked around and asked what they were going to do with all the food, and they said they were going to throw it away. He said please don’t, let me put it in my truck and I’ll bring it to the homeless shelter by my house. And we work very similarly to that model, even 28 years later. Once the act goes on stage, a volunteer comes and takes the uneaten food to people in need.

JAM: Do you just work with concerts and film sets?
JP: No, one of our biggest sports collaborations is with another no profit organization called The Green Sports Alliance. The manage every sports sustainability efforts and act as consultants. They get us into a lot of stadiums to pick up donations.

JAM: Tell us about your team?
JP: If you look on our website you can see we are a really small team of 4 people. Other than that we have a full time volunteer, and full time means however many hours he can give us (he’s a traveling NYU tech professor) and he does all our IT.
JAM: Thats amazing. It shows how much can be done with so few…How long have you worked at RWU?
JP: I started in 2013 as an intern and then in 2016 they hired me full time. I know the company in and out!
JAM: How does a normal pick up of food work from, lets say a TV show set?
JP: We get the call sheets and we send out the information to our volunteers who work for the shelter where the food will be going to, most of the time. In order to be a Rock and Wrap it up partner, you have to have all our vetting criteria. You have to have state food handling certification, health certificate, a big enough program and the ability to text. We guaranty pick up form set 90% of the time.

JAM: What’s stopping you from the 100%?
JP: Sometimes there isn’t a shelter that can come pick up the food. I’ll get a call from a production manager some days telling me they have tons of food but I have no one to pick it up. Transport can step in and help deliver it in some cases. Some of our productions have purchased a freezer for us that stays at the stage. This allows for the volunteer to have flexibility.
JAM: How many sets to you work with on average?
JP: Well we have over 160 productions that we have worked on this year!

JAM: Thats astounding. Can you tell us about the Whole Part Calculator App and how that works on these sets?
JP: Yes a show can put in it’s poundage and the calculator will instantly give the meals and the carbon reduction from donating instead of throwing it away. Any company, not just TV, can do this when they donate and they can instantly tweet the information.
JAM: And the calculator can be used in schools as well?
JP: For middle and high school teachers, the Whole Earth Calculator Climate Literacy Lesson Plans use the Calculator to help teach sustainability within the context of their favorite local sports team or musical group.
JAM: And It’s A Wrap isn’t all of your initiatives… can you go into the other aspects of RWU?
JP: We run a feminine hygiene products program as well called Mardi-Bra’s, or Hannah’s project. We sensitize the public to the dire need of the lack of feminine hygiene products by shelters, soup kitchens and pantries. It is the # 1 item after food we are asked for across North America. The solution could be as simple as asking every woman to buy one extra box each month and donate it.

JAM: Is there anything else you are working on now that you’d like to highlight?
JP: In 1995 we passed something called the Federal Food Donation Act, which says that all federally funded events and buildings must donate their food back to the local community since they used taxpayer dollars. We currently are working on now is bringing it down to the state level. We have the act and we can tailor it to every state.
JAM: What is your biggest issue stopping this and your other programs?
JP: Funding. We are such a small team, more funding would allow us to hire a bigger team and get more good accomplished!