Food for Thought
Most food pantries* can provide only canned vegetables and fruit to their clients.
AmpleHarvest.org enables your neighbors in need to get garden fresh produce that might otherwise be wasted. *Also called food banks, food shelves, food closets and food cpuboards in various parts of the country
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About AmpleHarvest.org
Shortly after I became the director of the Sustainable West Milford Community Garden in late 2008, I learned that some of our garden plot holders -- like millions of backyard gardeners nationwide -- left large amounts of their garden produce unharvested when they grew more than they could possibly use.
Aware that hunger is a problem in our community, I suggested that we created a committee that would help to gather this extra food and deliver it to local food pantries. The program was named Ample Harvest. Food pantries however were hard to find, in large part because most operate without an Internet site or yellow page listing. Google for example listed the nearest food pantry as being in a town 25 miles away, even though our own town had several of them. And it turns out this same challenge was faced by backyard gardeners nationwide wishing to share their bounty. To address this dilemma, we created the AmpleHarvest.org Campaign, a nationwide effort to educate, encourage and enable gardeners with extra produce to easily donate to a local food pantry. AmpleHarvest.org gives food pantries the opportunity to be listed in a central nationwide directory so that gardeners can share their fresh produce and, garden-by-garden, help diminish hunger in America Since it's rollout in May 2009, the AmpleHarvest.org Campaign has continued to grow.
In October 2009, the 1,000th food pantry registered on the site.
Currently, there are 2,593 food pantries across America already registered on AmpleHarvest.org. You can view a nationwide map of all registered food pantries by clicking here. The AmpleHarvest.org Campaign, originally created as a program of Sustainable West Milford (New Jersey) was spawned off in April 2010 and became AmpleHarvest.org Inc. - a 501(c)(3) charitable organization (EIN #27-2433274). Everyone involved in the creation and support of AmpleHarvest.org has donated their time and talent. There are no costs to the food pantries or the gardeners for use of the site. AmpleHarvest.org Inc. greatly appreciates sustaining grants and donations to help fund the ongoing operational and staffing costs for the AmpleHarvest.org Campaign. Please click here to learn how you can help AmpleHarvest.org help your community. The web site exists due to the generosity and support of the below people and organizations who helped to design, create, critique, test and promote the AmpleHarvest.org: Feedback from reviews, the press as well both the food bank and gardening community has been overwhelmingly positive. The ultimate success of the campaign will depend upon the number of food pantries that take the opportunity to be listed in the directory. Closing thoughts... Although many people are concerned about their own economic situation, the AmpleHarvest.org campaign enables Americans to help their neighbors by reaching into their backyards instead of their back pockets. Sincerely, Gary Oppenheimer AmpleHarvest.org Founder CNN Hero Master Gardener Rutgers Environmental Steward |
