So much food goes to waste in our country every year.

So many people are hungry.

It is literally cheaper to throw food away than to give it away… until now.

A few years ago I had the honor of mentoring Maria Rose Belding when she and her partners at Means Database were in the Valley Venture Mentors startup Accelerator. Her social venture is organized and dreams like a high tech silicon valley startup – but all of that energy is directed to doing good, at scale. Her venture diverted more than a million pounds of food to food pantries around the country, is financially sustainable, and has only just begun.

Oh… and she did all of this while being an undergraduate.

No wonder she was just recognized as one of CNN’s Heroes of the year. Check out her CNN’s video about her here.

Maria, you make us so damn proud!