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 provide effective delivery and distribution of donated fresh produce and other healthy foods to sites that serve the at-risk, food-insecure population."

Dear Friends and Supporters,

I want to thank you so much for your ongoing generosity and support of Rolling Harvest Food Rescue. There is so much to share about our growth and progress in 2013.

We are at the end of an extraordinary season for Rolling Harvest Food Rescue that brought more than a 40% increase in food donations over the previous year. 89,000 pounds of locally-grown food have been delivered to 12,000 of our neighbors in need since May. That's more than 450,000 additional servings of

healthy fresh fruits, vegetables and organic meats on the plates of area children, seniors and families in need. This is in large part thanks to the commitment of so many new and existing farms and growers donating regularly to us.

None of the work we do is possible without the efforts of our dedicated corps of incredible 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 the harvest season.

More than 20 local farms and producers now partner with us, including None Such Farms, 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 Organics, Blue Moon Acres, and Snipe's Farm in Bucks County. And in Hunterdon and Mercer Counties Gravity Hill Organic Farm, St. Ho Pau Farm, Honeybrook Organic Farm, Chickadee Creek Farm, Whistling Wolf Farm, Doublebrook Organic Farm, Big Bear Organics, Shibumi Farm, PDK Corn and Sandbrook Meadow CSA. They generously share their surplus and wonderfully irregular produce with us to distribute around the county and into parts of New Jersey.

These farms also invite us to come and glean in their fields, with 18 gleaning events in 2013 that provided many more thousands of pounds of gorgeous produce to distribute at its peak. Rolling Harvest volunteers braved heat and cold and storms to bring this gift to the food pantries.

Our first-ever fundraising and awareness-building event was held in June and hosted by our friends at Gravity Hill Organic Farm in Titusville, NJ. Featured speaker Dr. Joel Fuhrman, internationally renowned author, lecturer and nutrition expert, spoke to our sell-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 Organic and Natural Meats, was held on a warm beautiful evening. It was truly amazing! It was a grand and memorable evening for all, complete with 12-foot tall dancing veggie puppets, an original dance by Brian Sanders' popular dance troupe "Junk", and with fresh, local food donated by many of our partner farms. The meal was expertly crafted by the award-winning Canal House chefs Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer, with help from local caterer extraordinaire Max Hansen. We also had the privilege to tell 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 ours for 2013. This was made possible with a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President's Grant Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation after a small group of their lawyers spent a day gleaning in the fields and making deliveries with Rolling Harvest volunteers. We can now be even more efficient and effective with our pickup and distribution logistics.

Rolling Harvest recently completed a pilot program with the United Way of Bucks County to use funds donated by residents as part of their BKO campaign to Knock Out Hunger. We reached out to our generous, community-minded farmers and growers, who once again came through with more than 23,000 additional pounds of first-quality fruits and vegetables at below-wholesale prices for this worthwhile program.

This year we have been able to add more than 16,000 pounds of natural, organic meats to our deliveries thanks to the folks at Applegate Meats who are working so hard with us to "rescue" damaged packaged meats from their processing plant that are otherwise perfect, delicious and healthy, and the master butchers at Doublebrook Organic Farm in Hopewell, 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 service organizations like the Bucks County Opportunity Council, Bucks County Housing Group, Bucks County Foodshed Alliance, Hunger Nutrition Coalition and the Housing Development Agency to better identify underserved areas and places of need. Several new distribution sites were added in 2013, including the YWCA pantry at Bucks Landing in Warminster, Faith Baptist Church in Fairless Hills, Moreland Towers and Charter Arms senior Housing in Warminster, and the many hunger-relief programs of St. Martin of Tours Church in New Hope, along with the more than 30 food pantries and shelters we have been serving. With the growth in donations and variety, we have expanded to serve more of the low-income senior population that is becoming increasingly vulnerable to hunger.

Rolling Harvest Food Rescue held more than 25 free farm markets at various food pantries in Bucks and Hunterdon County this year. When families taste what our nutrition chefs cook up, then learn about all the health benefits and deliciousness of many of the crops we get donated, they are much more likely to take it home and easily cook 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 of operation asked the extended community for help and support so we can continue to meet 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 for people to make tax-deductible donations.

Rolling Harvest Food Rescue has been so fortunate to receive grants in 2013 from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Princeton Area Community Foundation, The United Way of Bucks County, The Bucks County Housing Group, The Bucks County Opportunity Council, The BC League of Women Voters, UMBB Foundation, The WF and DW Oliver Foundation, Lush Cosmetics Charity Pot , BC Commissioners and many caring, community-minded private donors. This help has proven to be essential in covering daily 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 of even more severe cuts as the Farm Bill negotiations proceed and the lingering economic hardships from the recession, we have to do even more to fill the gap in nutrition and access 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 all know that well-nourished children learn better, and well-nourished workers earn better. Everyone deserves the chance to benefit from all of the nutritional abundance around us, especially the most vulnerable among us who struggle everyday and make hard economic choices between food, rent, medicine and other basic necessities.

We all look forward to continuing to source and distribute fresh, healthy, locally-grown food that provides our neighbors in need with much healthier food choices. There is so much surplus in our area, and with your help, we at Rolling Harvest Food Rescue will continue 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 Snyder

Founder and Executive Director, Rolling Harvest Food Rescue

www.RollingHarvest.org

Phone: 267-293-0085

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