The Needs Foundation, a non-profit in the Metro, delivers about 20-thousand pounds of food to the hungry every day. Not just any food, left overs from fine dining restaurants and local eating establishments. "We'll pick up that food each night and do a direct run to either the City Rescue, Jesus House or a church in close proximity, so the food stays fresh," says Joseph Abbo, co-founder of Needs Foundation.

Food that would normally get tossed in the dumpster, fills hungry bellies. "It's everything-- all three courses. It's a salad, an entree, and typically some dessert, as well. So, it's a full meal," says Jon Abston, assistant manager of Deep Fork Grill in Oklahoma City, one of only 20 restaurants that participate. Other local restaurants say the liability scares them away.

"A restaurant wants to donate food and somebody comes down with food poisioning, well they'll go sue the restaurant," says Rep. Richard Morrissette, (D)-- South Oklahoma City. He has just introduced a House Bill 1418, designed to eliminate this problem. "This bill will make it so restaurants, bakeries, or people that make and provide food, will not be held liable, as long as they're acting in good, reasonable faith," says Rep. Morrissette.

"There are roughly 95-hundred restaurants in the state of Oklahoma. If we were just to target 28-percent of those restaurants in the Metro area, we literally could collect about 90-thousand pounds of food per day, which could eventually erradicate hunger," says Abbo, who notes that Oklahoma is currently ranked as the fourth hungriest state in the Nation. "It wouldn't be tangible for our city if we tried to pay for them to have food, opposed to using the food that's already at our disposal that's still fresh and edible, because we'd probably spend about 70-million dollars a month," he says.

"We have this abundance of food that we're throwing out every single day, and we have a need where people are hungry and starving for nutrition. Combine the waste with the need-- perfect marriage," says Rep. Morrissette.

"It's a win-win for everybody," says Abston. "The food, at that point, is paid for. It would completely go to waste, so it should serve a purpose."

The Needs Foundation says this bill would not only erradicate hunger, but also help the enviornment and the economy. "The second highest thing that ends up in our landfills is organic food. When it starts to rot and decompose, it lets off methane gas," says Abbo. "In America, we probably spend abut 100-billion dollars just to transport this food to the landfills," he adds.

Locally, Abbo says bakeries throw away about 100-pounds of food, per bakery, per day. Other local restaurants throw out about 32-pounds.

House Bill 1418 will also serve another purpose. "Currently, if a senior citizen comes to a senior citizen center and brings some tupperware or whatever and wants to bring some food home-- they can't do that today," says Rep. Morrissette. House Bill 1418 will allow senior citizens to take home food from the centers.