BSOS Alumnus Named to Forbes’ Social Entrepreneurs List
The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS) proudly congratulates alumnus Ben Simon, who was recently named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30: Social Entrepreneurs” list. Mr. Simon is one of the founders of the Food Recovery Network (FRN), a student-run nonprofit that gives students at colleges and universities nationwide the tools and the roadmaps they need to fight food waste and hunger by recovering surplus perishable food from their campuses and surrounding communities that would otherwise go to waste and donating it to people in need.
The FRN is active on several college campuses, with more collegiate partners on the horizon. Eventually, FRN hopes to expand out of the collegiate market into local communities. Under Mr. Simon’s leadership, FRN has expanded to 111 colleges in 31 states and has donated more than 600,000 pounds of food to date; a figure which amounts to more than 480,000 meals. The benefits of this success are immeasurable—for the environment, for the hungry, for food service providers and for volunteers.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1433","attributes":{"alt":"BPC competition photo","class":"media-image","height":"200","style":"width: 259px; height: 200px; margin: 5px; float: left;","width":"259"}}]]Mr. Simon and his colleagues have enjoyed tremendous success with the FRN, winning numerous competitions including BSOS’s Be the Solution Business Plan Competition and gaining national media attention.
“What motivates me to be an entrepreneur is that there are so many issues in our world that we can do something about, like hunger, climate change and citizen engagement. In every venture I’ve been a part of, I’ve followed my heart and that is leading to a career path. I didn’t know when I started down this road that my ideas could turn into full-time jobs for myself and for others, but that’s where I’m heading,” Mr. Simon told BSOS in a 2013 interview.
A GVPT major, Simon also founded MyMaryland.net, a non-partisan, nonprofit website that connected Maryland residents with their elected officials to improve participation, transparency and responsiveness in representative democracy. While the site is no longer active, it was a bold experiment that connected and inspired many politicians and voters.
Through FRN and MyMaryland.net, Mr. Simon is living up to our College’s mission to Be the Solution to the world’s great challenges.
Published on Mon, Jan 5, 2015 - 1:56PM