Imagine sunny Southern California with its abundance of fresh produce…citrus trees, 12 month growing season…basically a green paradise filled with the healthiest food imaginable. Now, imagine gleaning more than a million pounds of that fresh produce with the help of all-volunteer crews dedicated to the harvest and distribution to local food pantries where hungry people will share the joy of this fresh food. This was the dream of Rick Nahmias, founder of Food Forward, one of our recent grantees.

In a phone exchange this morning, Rick shared that over the weekend the organization reached a significant milestone–a total of more than 1,000,1000 pounds of fresh produce gleaned since starting in 2009.

With the new Farmer’s Market initiative which provides volunteer pickups at three local markets (with more to come after the process is evaluated) we know it will not be long before Food Forward doubles its numbers and more people who rely on food banks for sustenance will be able to enjoy the abundance of fresh produce.