City Harvest (United States)

Founded in 1982, City Harvest is the world's first food rescue organization.[2] Its founders included Helen VerDuin Palit[3] and Harley Brooke-Hitching (founding chair) and Peter Schmidt (founding Board Member).[4] To date, the organization has rescued and delivered more than 600 million pounds of food.[1] The operation utilizes 22 trucks (including 2 tractor trailers), 160 staff members, thousands of volunteers, a Food Rescue Facility, and the support of many food and financial donors.[1] Fresh fruits and vegetables comprised more than half of the rescued food.[5]

Refrigerated City Harvest trucks deliver fresh produce to community food programs throughout New York City.

City Harvest collects excess food from restaurants, grocers, bakeries, Greenmarkets, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms.[6] The food is then delivered without charge to community food programs throughout New York City. Food delivered by City Harvest is received by about 1 million residents.[7]

City Harvest’s Food Council, which helps the organization by donating food, raising funds and heightening visibility, has more than 70 members. The current chair of the Food Council is Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian. Founding Food Council members include: Eric Ripert,[8] Dana Cowin,[9] Michael Lomonaco,[10] Danny Meyer,[11] Drew Nieporent,[12] Tracy Nieporent,[13] and Gus Theodoro.[14] The Food Council has since expanded to include Ron Ben-Israel,[15] David Chang,[16] Tom Colicchio,[17] Marc Murphy,[18] Marcus Samuelsson,[19] Gail Simmons,[20] and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.[21]

In December 2011, City Harvest opened its 45,400 square foot Food Rescue Facility[22] in Long Island City, Queens. The Facility includes a large cooler and freezer to safely hold perishable food on a short-term basis and a large dry storage area to sort non-perishable goods.[23] Each morning, City Harvest’s fleet of trucks are loaded with food at the facility before picking up and delivering food to community food programs.

Since 2006, the Healthy Neighborhoods initiative has expanded access to healthy produce and has offered nutrition education to residents. These programs target high-need communities throughout the five boroughs.[24]

Programs include:

Relieving food insecurity

Emergency Food: City Harvest delivers over 10 million pounds of food (60% of which is produce) each year to emergency food programs located within designated Healthy Neighborhoods.[25] Soup kitchens and food pantries are then able to offer participants a variety of healthy food.

Mobile Markets: In 2005, City Harvest began holding two, free farmers’ market-style distributions in low-income communities each month.[25] The operation now includes nine Mobile Markets – two per borough – each month, distributing approximately three million pounds of fresh produce a year. In the fiscal year of 2013, these markets delivered roughly one million pounds of produce to 50,000 residents. In addition, these markets sometimes include on-site cooking demonstrations.[26]

ACE: Through the Agency Capacity Expansion (ACE) program, City Harvest offers grants for one-time projects to selected emergency food programs to upgrade facilities and services. In addition, City Harvest University's courses teach agencies core skill sets.[27]

A City Harvest volunteer leads a Healthy Neighborhoods workshop on how to buy produce on a budget.

City Harvest advocates at the city, state and federal level for programs, policies and actions to change the conditions that result in food insecurity and hunger.[31] City Harvest also provides low-income New Yorkers with access to federal nutrition programs and regional food supplies.[32]

City Harvest's Executive Director Jilly Stephens (center) at an event with members of the Food Council.

To help raise funds, City Harvest hosts annual events such as the City Harvest Gala,[33] Summer in the City,[34] and BID.[35] Events often include restaurant tastings, introductions to top chefs, and auction prizes.

2013: https://inhabitat.com/nyc/city-harvest-is-looking-for-volunteers-for-their-upcoming-queens-bridge-mobile-produce-market-team/ (DMANF) named City Harvest the Nonprofit Organization of the Year.[7]

2011: In The New York Times Company’s annual Nonprofit Excellence Awards, City Harvest was awarded the Silver Prize for Excellent Management.[36]

2010: Executive Director Jilly Stephens was honored at the Annual Spirit of ABNY (Association for a Better New York) awards as a select New Yorker who has provided a distinguished level of service to New York City.[37]

2009: The Robin Hood Foundation awarded a $400,000 grant to City Harvest based on the efficiency of City Harvest’s unique food rescue model.[38]

2008: Charity Navigator awarded City Harvest with 4 stars in their charity ranking system.[39]

1989: City Harvest founder Helen verDuin Palit received a presidential citation for a private sector initiative from President George Bush, as part of his 1,000 Points of Light program.[6]