Fish. Food. Feel Good
Fish. Food. Feel Good. (F3G) is a San Diego 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to providing nutritious, sustainable protein to Americans in need. Our program and benefits are unlike any other, and we have one simple goal: collect sport caught fish and distribute this nutritious product to local charities who serve it to Americans in need for free - whether that need originates from being elderly, homeless, jobless, a military veteran, etc.
F3G has been America’s only sustainable fishing charity since 2010, when F3G's first collected pelagics including: Albacore, Yellowfin, Yellowtail, Bluefin, Wahoo, and Mahi Mahi, which we then donated to partnering charities for FREE!
Father Joe's Villages of San Diego was the first nonprofit to partner with F3G. Other charities benefitting from F3G donations include: the San Diego Rescue Mission, the San Diego Food Bank, Imperial Valley Food Bank, Project 1:1, Samoa Independent, Jewish Family Services, PATH Connections Housing (Urban Angels), Kitchens for Good, and Ronald McDonald House of Charities San Diego.
Todd Bluechel explains why he created F3G
I've been fishing these waters for over 30 years and there comes a time when you have to stop complaining and take action. I saw Robert Redford's film: "Lions for Lambs" and it reminded me that if one wants to have a full life, a meaningful life, each and every one of us must dedicate selfless time to the improvement of others, towards the greater good. I've created an easy way for fishermen and boat crews to convert sport caught fish into nutritious meals for Americans in need. It was important to create a simple program - a program people will want to use and want to replicate in their own home town, a program that can in fact be replicated anywhere sport fishermen catch fish!
Mr. Bluechel has been funding F3G himself offering charities whole fish for free but F3G does rely on generous mutually beneficial partnerships including 5 Star Processing who collects, processes, freezes, and stores the fish. As soon as the collection bin is full F3G calls whichever charity is next in line to collect the bounty and everyone feels good! Cognizant solid waste landfills are filling up too fast Mr. Bluechel has even taken this process one step further by partnering with crab and lobster fisherman. Fish carcasses are stored in barrels and frozen; when the barrels are full the lobster/crab fishermen pick up the barrels and exchange them with empty barrels. All this food/organic left-over is returned to the ocean as bait for traps that additionally feeds small fish and other critters.
Enthusiastic requests from fishermen in other states have emailed F3G excited about the possibility of replicating F3G in their hometown. Accepting this challenge F3G hopes to one day feed 1 million Americans nationwide annually!
