Our Story

Hi! I’m Amelia and I am the founder of Act Bar. Act Bar was born out of the hope to empower change through small actions, in an effort to fight the US hunger crisis.

It started in 2020 during the first COVID lockdown. I was living with my sister, Ashley, who teaches for a school with a high percentage of children who qualify for free or reduced lunch programs. She explained to me that, for a lot of her students, the district funded lunch was the only meal they could fully rely on. I learned quickly that the biggest challenge my sister faced wasn't teaching her kids, but making sure they had meals. Shockingly, over  30 million children rely on free or reduced cost school lunches every year.

It wasn’t until I had a close up look at what my sister (and so many other teachers) faced during COVID, that I understood the magnitude of the US hunger crisis. I began doing my own research in hopes of understanding how a country with so much abundance, could have millions of people going hungry. That’s when I learned that, despite 34 million Americans experiencing food insecurity every year, 1/3rd of all food in America goes to waste… how? 

It turns out, as a country we do have the resources to feed more, but in order to do so, we have to waste less. According to Project Drawdown, the world's leading source in climate change solutions, reduction of food waste closes the 60% gap between food available today and food needed to eliminate hunger by 2050.

Ultimately, the desire to waste less so we can feed more is what inspired Act Bar. The US Hunger Crisis wasn’t going to get solved overnight, but knew that enough small actions would lead to change. So I created a bar wasting less through the use of upcycled grains, and feeding more through our donation of 1 meal for every 1 bar purchased. 

Whether it's purchasing imperfect produce, donating excess food in your pantry, or choosing an upcycled protein bar- I hope Act Bars inspire others to take action with us to close the hunger gap. Every action, no matter how small, is a step toward big change.

Data Source: nrdc.org, drawdown.org, waterfootprint.org.