Background 

WFI has expanded its collaboration with White Pony Express and the Ananda Group in order to provide technical assistance and support for the expansion of a food volunteer-powered food delivery service initiative in Mexico.

 

White Pony Express (WPE) is a volunteer-powered organization with a mission to eliminate hunger and poverty by delivering the abundance all around us to those in need—with love. They serve 120,000 people each year by partnering with more than 80 vetted agencies who have strong ties to the community. The food rescue program at WPE has expanded this model by subjecting all collected food to a meticulous culling process and promising that the rescued food is obtained, sorted, and redistributed within a twenty-four-hour time period—seven days a week. 

 

The Ananda Group is an investment fund that supports entrepreneurs who are empowering consumers to adopt an ethical, healthy and environmentally conscious lifestyle, without the use of animals to expand their Mesa Redonda “Round Table” program operated under their NGO Association of Vegan Entrepreneurs of Mexico (EVM). Mesa Redonda contributes to the recovery of plant-based businesses from the Covid-19 crisis while also reaching out in support of vulnerable groups. In this program, participating vegan restaurants invite their customers to purchase a food item to be delivered to communities in need, including women and children migrants, and indigenous women who have suffered from violence. 

 

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WPE provided technical assistance and support to the Mesa Redonda Round Table team to deepen the work underway, institute safety policies and practices, raise awareness, and ultimately expand their services. WPE will provide lessons learned and will help develop manuals and approaches that will enable Mesa Redonda to:

1. Incorporate more restaurants and other types of businesses;

2. Effectively advertise and market to new audiences to increase purchases by customers;

3. Grow their footprint; and

4. Serve additional organizations supporting women who have suffered from gender-based violence (GBV). 

 

The project demonstrates the power of partnership across national borders to alleviate food insecurity. It also provides an example of a new paradigm of philanthropy that is based on love and human unity.

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Deliverables & Impact

The expansion plan includes approaches to deepening impact of the Mesa Redonda initiative. Specifically, WPE has focused on helping the team with an operations manual, standardization of practices, outreach and marketing, donor recruitment, building trust, and using technology to streamline operations and increase efficiencies.  

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Another benefit of the partnership is the opportunity this provides WPE to help a neighbor outside of the U.S. to scale a similar model with the shared goal of uplifting lives, protecting the environment, and putting an end to hunger and marginalization.