Im a newyorker who has recently been moved to try and effect the issue of poverty and food loss in my area. I and a group of friends (10 of us) want to find a way to help on a regular basis but there seems to be no room to volunteer at soup kitchens or food pantries. Any suggestions about what we should do?

Chris

A couple years ago the farm starting partnering with a local non-profit food bank. The food bank can then purchase the “extra” veggies from the farm at a reduced cost. That way the farmers aren’t losing money by donating the veggies, but rather are paid for the time it takes to harvest and pack them, but not any profit on top of that.

I’d argue that this is only a partial solution, though, as the amount of unused good veg in the field is still very high after the food bank purchase/donation. And the amount of farmers’ time to harvest the charity veg still has to be small compared to that for the for-profit veg. The real solution is lots of volunteer (i.e. free) labor. Get volunteers out in the fields to “glean” all the extra good stuff, pack it, and get it to a food bank. But I haven’t discovered any organizations that organize such gleanings. I can tell you the farmers don’t have time to organize this sort of thing. Are there non-profits who do such volunteer mobilizations? There ought to be.

“No.” they said. “We’re supposed to throw it out.”

That’s shocking! Starbucks, which prides itself on being “green”, doesn’t donate their end-of-the-day surplus? Here in Manhattan, that must amount to literally tons of perfectly good baked goods, prepared sandwiches, small meals and fruits wasted every day.

Some group needs to be strongly urging Starbucks to change this policy.

In fulfilling its mission of “Rescuing excess food for the hungry of Rochester”, CFR in 2009 is on track to equal or exceed 2008 accomplishments!

In 2008, from our host church, Bethel Lutheran, CFR distributed meals to an average of nearly 1,200 families each month. The 1,200 represent about 3,500 hungry tummies. The total weight of food distributed in 2008 was nearly 100 tons, or from 13,000 to 17,000 pounds per month.

From a pool of some 500+ CFR volunteers, about 20 folks every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, picked up, received, sorted, and distributed meals for one day to about 100 families.

Excess food is donated by about 25 organizations – restaurants, hospitals, schools, grocery stores, retirement centers, and businesses.

CFR is an all volunteer organization with no paid staff. Food containers are CFR’s major expense, about $18,000 per year.

This vital community service could not be accomplished without major financial support from funds, grants, and individuals.

BTW, Jonathan – great blog. I can see I’ll be hooked for hours reading.