rolling harvest food rescue end of year report 2013 · with help from local caterer extraordinaire...

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Rolling Harvest Food Rescue End of Year Report 2013

Connecting local farmers with neighbors in need

Mission Statement: "Our goal is to increase access to and provideeffective delivery and distribution of donated freshproduce and other healthy foods to sites that servethe atrisk, foodinsecure population." Dear Friends and Supporters, I want to thank you so much for your ongoinggenerosity and support of Rolling Harvest FoodRescue. There is so much to share about ourgrowth and progress in 2013. We are at the end of an extraordinary season forRolling Harvest Food Rescue that brought morethan a 40% increase in food donations over theprevious year. 89,000 pounds of locally‐grownfood have been delivered to 12,000 of ourneighbors in need since May. That's more than 450,000 additional servings ofhealthy fresh fruits, vegetables and organic meats on the plates of area children, seniorsand families in need. This is in large part thanks to the commitment of so many newand existing farms and growers donating regularly to us. None of the work we do is possible without the efforts of our dedicated corps ofincredible volunteers who help with gleaning, driving, delivering and daily operations.Food rescue work means responding quickly to farmers' needs and is often last‐minute,based on weather and other unforeseen circumstances. This demands great flexibility,commitment and spontaneity, all of which our volunteers bring daily throughout theharvest season. More than 20 local farms and producers now partner with us, including None SuchFarms, Roots to River Farm, Solly Brothers Farm, Applegate Natural and Organic Meats,Trauger's Farm, Solebury Orchards, Tinicum CSA, Blooming Glen Farms, Door to Door

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Organics, Blue Moon Acres, and Snipe's Farm in Bucks County. And in Hunterdon andMercer Counties Gravity Hill Organic Farm, St. Ho Pau Farm, Honeybrook Organic Farm,Chickadee Creek Farm, Whistling Wolf Farm, Doublebrook Organic Farm, Big BearOrganics, Shibumi Farm, PDK Corn and Sandbrook Meadow CSA. They generously sharetheir surplus and wonderfully irregular produce with us to distribute around the countyand into parts of New Jersey. These farms also invite us to come and glean in their fields, with 18 gleaning events in2013 that provided many more thousands of pounds of gorgeous produce to distributeat its peak. Rolling Harvest volunteers braved heat and cold and storms to bring this giftto the food pantries.

Our first‐ever fundraising and awareness‐building event was held in June and hosted byour friends at Gravity Hill Organic Farm in Titusville, NJ. Featured speaker Dr. JoelFuhrman, internationally renowned author, lecturer and nutrition expert, spoke to oursell‐out crowd, which also got to enjoy a sumptuous spread of fresh food made from his"Eat to Live" principles.

In October, our harvest event "Plenty", hosted by the founders of Applegate Organicand Natural Meats, was held on a warm beautiful evening. It was truly amazing! It was agrand and memorable evening for all, complete with 12‐foot tall dancing veggiepuppets, an original dance by Brian Sanders' popular dance troupe "Junk", and withfresh, local food donated by many of our partner farms. The meal was expertly craftedby the award‐winning Canal House chefs Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer,with help from local caterer extraordinaire Max Hansen. We also had the privilege totell our story of food rescue to an engaged, sold‐out crowd of 330 guests!



The arrival of a beautiful new delivery van marked the fulfillment of a major goal of oursfor 2013. This was made possible with a grant from the Robert Wood JohnsonFoundation President's Grant Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation after asmall group of their lawyers spent a day gleaning in the fields and making deliverieswith Rolling Harvest volunteers. We can now be even more efficient and effective withour pickup and distribution logistics.

Rolling Harvest recently completed apilot program with the United Way ofBucks County to use funds donated byresidents as part of their BKO campaignto Knock Out Hunger. We reached outto our generous, community‐mindedfarmers and growers, who once againcame through with more than 23,000additional pounds of first‐quality fruitsand vegetables at below‐wholesaleprices for this worthwhile program.

This year we have been able to add more than 16,000 pounds of natural, organic meatsto our deliveries thanks to the folks at Applegate Meats who are working so hard withus to "rescue" damaged packaged meats from their processing plant that are otherwiseperfect, delicious and healthy, and the master butchers at Doublebrook Organic Farm inHopewell, NJ who have been sharing their surplus premium cuts of organic meats and



poultry regularly.

We have strengthened our collaboration and partnerships with local social serviceorganizations like the Bucks County Opportunity Council, Bucks County Housing Group,Bucks County Foodshed Alliance, Hunger Nutrition Coalition and the HousingDevelopment Agency to better identify underserved areas and places of need. Severalnew distribution sites were added in 2013, including the YWCA pantry at Bucks Landingin Warminster, Faith Baptist Church in Fairless Hills, Moreland Towers and Charter Armssenior Housing in Warminster, and the many hunger‐relief programs of St. Martin ofTours Church in New Hope, along with the more than 30 food pantries and shelters wehave been serving. With the growth in donations and variety, we have expanded toserve more of the low‐income senior population that is becoming increasinglyvulnerable to hunger.



Rolling Harvest Food Rescue held more than 25 free farm markets at various foodpantries in Bucks and Hunterdon County this year. When families taste what ournutrition chefs cook up, then learn about all the health benefits and deliciousness ofmany of the crops we get donated, they are much more likely to take it home and easilycook it for their families. Think kale, swiss chard, and kohlrabi. Yum!

We reached out to tell our story in 2013, and for the first time in our four years ofoperation asked the extended community for help and support so we can continue tomeet the growing need. And so many of you responded with financial support and help,recognizing the value in what we do and the impact on the neighbors we are helping.Our recent IRS status as a 501‐c‐3 nonprofit organization now makes it possible forpeople to make tax‐deductible donations. Rolling Harvest Food Rescue has been so fortunate to receive grants in 2013 from TheRobert Wood Johnson Foundation/Princeton Area Community Foundation, The UnitedWay of Bucks County, The Bucks County Housing Group, The Bucks County OpportunityCouncil, The BC League of Women Voters, UMBB Foundation, The WF and DW OliverFoundation, Lush Cosmetics Charity Pot , BC Commissioners and many caring,community‐minded private donors. This help has proven to be essential in coveringdaily operating costs including transportation costs, nutrition outreach programs,gleaning events, volunteer needs and to ensure the sustainability of our mission.

With the recent cuts in benefits to families under SNAP (food stamps), the threat ofeven more severe cuts as the Farm Bill negotiations proceed and the lingering economichardships from the recession, we have to do even more to fill the gap in nutrition andaccess for all. Food pantries and other hunger‐relief sites are already stretched to their



limits. They are seeing 20% increases in the number of families coming for help. We allknow that well‐nourished children learn better, and well‐nourished workers earnbetter. Everyone deserves the chance to benefit from all of the nutritional abundancearound us, especially the most vulnerable among us who struggle everyday and makehard economic choices between food, rent, medicine and other basic necessities.

We all look forward to continuing to source and distribute fresh, healthy, locally‐grownfood that provides our neighbors in need with much healthier food choices. There is somuch surplus in our area, and with your help, we at Rolling Harvest Food Rescue willcontinue to be that link, committed to making a difference for the hunger‐relief sites,the farmers and the families that we serve.

Thanks a bushel, Cathy SnyderFounder and Executive Director, Rolling Harvest Food Rescuewww.RollingHarvest.org Phone: 267‐293‐0085

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