These 2 women are trying to feed the hungry in Toronto ... with leftovers

Two young, ambitious women have come up with a novel way to help feed the hungry in Toronto, a growing city that they say also has a growing problem with food waste.

After becoming tired of frequently seeing leftovers at multiple social and catering events, Trisha Islam and Shiva Mazrouei decided to take matters into their own hands and create a business called LifTOvers.

"We talk to people in different parts of the sector, so people who are providing food, people who work with food, and they talk about how there is so much food left over every single day across the city," Islam told CBC Toronto.

LifTOvers is a grassroots organization that redistributes consumable food from private local events to those less fortunate in the city. The pair works with multiple social services and food banks, such as Fort York Food Bank, the Allen Gardens Community Exchange and Good Shepherd.

Hopes for expansion in the future 

Islam and Mazrouei say they hope to expand the project across Toronto.

So far, LifTOvers has been up and running for only a month, but Islam and Mazrouei say that the overwhelming positive feedback has motivated them to keep going.

"I think everyone just wants to give back and they are looking for an opportunity to do that. We find a lot actually that people want to distribute the food, they may not have the time, the information or the resources. So we are really just helping to bridge that gap," said Islam.

The two are already coming up with ideas to expand their organization, such as developing their own LifTOvers app with the goal to create a faster and more efficient delivery process.

They are also launching their very own website, hoping to expand their platform and services.

"[This] is where we see things going in terms of being able to provide an immediate response, so that if there is food leftovers at an event we can connect them to an organization nearby within the same community," said Mazrouei.

But for now, their Twitter page @LifTOvers is where people can reach out to them for food pick-ups and further information.

"I think the scope is just huge. The amount of food that is being wasted and the amount of work that we can do ... really, the sky is the limit," Islam said.