SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A truck carrying food north forgot to turn on its refrigeration unit and the contents would have ended up in the city dump, were it not for Ruby and Laurin Trudel.

"They called us if we'd like to have a look at it," Ruby Trudel said, operator of the food rescue program. "We had to reject the frozen stuff, but as far as the fruits and vegetables, that was a no-brainer.

"We got 7,000 pounds of food that day that would've gone to the dump. Instead it went into the community."

Trudel and her husband, Laurin, started collecting leftover food from businesses in May of last year to donate to organizations around the city. Ruby had attended a forum for the homeless coalition at the legislative assembly and from there, the plan began to take shape.

"While I was listening to the different organizations discuss the challenges and difficulties they have in the community, particularly around funding, it was as if God laid his hands on my shoulder and said are you listening to this?" she said. "You can make a difference."

Earlier this month the City of Yellowknife approved the establishment of a new food rescue facility on Old Airport Road to store leftover food collected from businesses for distribution to charitable organizations. Trudel said they just couldn't handle having their operation out of their home anymore.

"Just in fruits and vegetables and packaged foods we received 75,000 pounds over the last year, so you can just imagine trying to process all that out of a home," she said, adding later they hope to have the facility open by sometime in August. BHP Billiton donated $10,000 to the program and Trudel said they purchased two large industrial coolers to put in the facility.

Of the 75,000 pounds received, Trudel said over 68,000 have been put into the community and the 7,000 pounds they were unable to use, all fruits and vegetables, are composted.

"That's taken to the community garden collective," she said. All the cardboard boxes were recycled as well. "So of all the 75,000 pounds collected, none of it went into the landfill."

The NWT Donation of Food Act, passed last year, protects food donors from legal action. Before the act was passed, Trudel was finding it difficult to collect food due to businesses' fears of being sued if someone got sick from spoiled vegetables and fruits or packaged products past their best before date.

"The day after the act was passed Co-op came on board," she said. "They've been one of our most consistent contributor. We pick up from them six days a week."

After the law passed, Trudel and other volunteers were able to collect 10,000 pounds of food by the end of the year and were able to clean and repack almost 8,000 pounds of it to be distributed to food banks and other organizations. Northern Food Services was their first donor and Trudel said they have been fantastic. Currently, Trudel said they have distributed 90 per cent of the fruits and vegetables they receive and 100 per cent of all dairy and meat products.

Brian Chilton, the head cook at the Salvation Army, said the food they get - fruits, vegetables, milk and dairy products - is a huge help to keeping costs down while providing healthy meals.

"We get daily donations," he said. "It's about 35 per cent of our food. We're able to offer well-balanced meals on a daily basis."

The Salvation Army is one of 20 organizations the food rescue program gives food to, along with the Yellowknife Food Bank, their largest user.

Chilton said with the food rescue service, he is able to keep food costs down almost 40 per cent.

"It's an incredible savings to us," he said. "It's so phenomenally important. We'd be struggling without them."

Trudel said they are searching for volunteers to help them deliver food during the week.

"We need the community to step up and give help with to deliver in the afternoon," she said. "It's a six day-a-week job, six hours a day. It's more than a full-time job."