FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOS ANGELES – In August and September, 2012 Food Forward, Southern California’s largest harvesting-‐for-‐the hungry non-‐profit, will launch its brand new Farmers Market Recovery Program, at three of the LA-‐ area’s largest and most robust outdoor markets in Santa Monica, Hollywood and Studio City.
Building on Food Forward’s “100% to the hungry” motto, volunteer “Glean Teams” culled from each of the surrounding communities will gather unsold high-‐grade produce directly from farmers at the close of each market, and donate it to agencies within 5-‐7 miles of each market.
Laura Avery, Santa Monica Farmers Market Supervisor says, “The farmers who come to the Santa Monica Farmers Market are pleased to share their fresh picked produce with Food Forward through this exciting and efficient new partnership. We are especially pleased that Step Up on Second, serving homeless and mentally ill individuals living in Santa Monica, who might not otherwise have access to California’s abundant and nutritious fruits and vegetables, will be the recipient of the bounty we have to share.”
With initial funding from The Rosenthal Family Foundation, The Plum Foundation and Jason & Lauren Morphew, Food Forward hopes to scale this pilot program from three markets in year one, to nine markets in year two, and will grow the program from there.
Meg Glasser, Managing Director of Food Forward says, “We are thrilled to be able to work with farmers markets in the same way that we work with local property owners— gleaning excess produce to donate to Los Angeles’ hungry. We also are excited to bring food enthusiast, Mary Baldwin on as the Program Manager and we welcome her to the small but ever-‐growing Food Forward team.”
In addition to collecting unsold produce from farmers, Food Forward’s Glean Team will also be accepting customer and local homeowners’ fresh produce donations during the last two hours of each market (excluding Santa Monica). Gleaning will occur at Santa Monica (Wednesday from 11:30–2); Studio City (Sundays from 11:30-2); and Hollywood (Sundays from 11:30‐2). They will make their first collections beginning in mid-‐August and by the end of September they expect to have all three market recovery sites up and running.
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Food Forward’s vision is to reconnect our community with the abundance of food already present in our everyday lives, while creating change around the issues of urban hunger, food waste and food justice. For information on the program, joining the Glean Team, or donating produce please check our blog at
http://foodforward.org/blog/ Email: fmrecovery@foodforward.org, or call 818-‐530-‐4125.