Wrote and article for the
Whole Life Times on Food Forward's Farmers Market Recovery Program that appears in their February issue. An excerpt is below:
Farmers Market Leftovers
Share the Love by Sharing the Food
Growers can estimate, but it’s difficult to predict how many people
will actually show up at the farmers market on any given day. Thus it’s
not unusual to have leftovers when the last of the customers have
trundled off home with their bursting bags of goodies. Hoping to kill
two birds—or perhaps apples—with one stone, Food Forward launched a
Farmers Market Recovery Program, a.k.a. the Glean Team, in August of
last year. With target goals of harvesting food, fighting hunger and
building community, this program has created the do-gooder trifecta of a
win-win-win. Through the act of gleaning, an Old Testament concept
that initially referenced the gathering of grain left behind by reapers,
Food Forward has collected 51,291 lbs of fresh fruit and vegetables in
only a few short months to distribute to people in need.
Working in three L.A. farmers
markets (Santa Monica, Studio City and Hollywood), Glean Team volunteers
arrive at their respective markets sporting royal blue baseball caps
and crisp khaki aprons, and issue cardboard collection boxes to local
farmers to load up with their unsold produce. Boxes are collected and
weighed for tax deductions for the farmers, then distributed to 21
receiving agencies (all located within five miles of the sourced
market).
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