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San Francisco's Glide Memorial Church Looking To Turn Food Waste Back Into Meals

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – It's a Thanksgiving tradition in San Francisco, meals being served to those in need at Glide Memorial Church.

Glide volunteers were busy in the kitchen Thursday morning, chopping vegetables for salads and slicing meat from hundreds of turkeys and hams. But with so much food to prepare, there are plenty of scraps left behind.

San Francisco's Glide Memorial Church Looking To Turn Food Waste Back Into Meals

"I use the carcasses all the time for soup, but I can't use this many," said Glide Foundation Founding President Janet Mirikitani.

She said there is no place at Glide to store the carcasses and bones. So what can they do about the excess food? Bo Links said he has an idea.

"You organize a literal soup kitchen. A kitchen that makes soup and they collect those bones and they make soup out of them for people who can't afford to get a meal," he said.

But not everyone is on board. "If a chef takes them and uses them in his kitchen to make soup, I just don't think the Health Department is going to allow that," said Patty Burness.

Still, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Glide Founder Rev. Cecil Williams are intrigued by the idea.

"Just even taking the bones and the scrap and making meals out of those," said Lee. "That is another innovation we are going to work on."

Although there is nothing specific on the table right now, Mayor Lee said he'd love to see something come to fruition by next Thanksgiving.

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