Evan Ehlers ’19
BA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Evan Ehlers, a Close alumnus, made the most of his opportunities at Drexel. As a student, he founded the impactful nonprofit food rescue initiative Sharing Excess, using his excess dining dollars to provide meals to the homeless. After establishing his first warehouse distribution center, Evan and his team pitched an idea to Mr. Beast to break the world record for the largest food distribution. This pitch led to his feature on Beast Philanthropy, Mr. Beast’s nonprofit organization.
Through the Entrepreneurship Co-op and Baiada’s 360-degree support, Ehlers grew Sharing Excess into what it is today. Since 2018, Sharing Excess has expanded from a single warehouse in Philadelphia to a multi-warehouse network that has delivered over 100 million pounds of food to communities and organizations addressing food insecurity across 30 states.
An inaugural member of Drexel’s Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship, Ehlers was a student when he launched the non-profit in 2016. It started as a standardized donation program for his fellow Dragons to reallocate their unused dining plan credits to community members in need.
Close taught us from the very beginning to see everything as an opportunity, especially if it involves your passions and what makes you happy. And this ... made me feel the most fulfilled I had ever felt in my entire life.
Ehlers credits his Drexel education with preparing him to turn his passion and ambition into a venture that is uplifting thousands of Philadelphians in a time of crisis.
“I couldn’t think of a better thing to get up for in the morning,” Ehlers says. “I couldn’t be happier in the position that I’m in right now. And it’s absolutely because of the co-op experience at Drexel — and more specifically, the entrepreneurship co-op experience at the Close School of Entrepreneurship.”