In 1982, several average New Yorkers disturbed at the high levels of absolutely good food being tossed out every day by local grocers and restauranteurs founded City Harvest to offer a collection and distribution point for such things. Thus, such discarded food would be gathered to be turned over to communal pantries and so on; almost three decades later, just about thirty million pounds would be collected in any given year, with deliveries made by car, bicycle, and foot averaging some seventy-seven thousand pounds every day.
But notwithstanding the donated food and volunteers, City Harvest still depends heavily on the substantial financial support of well-known personalities from business, politics, and entertainment, donors such as businessman Robert Toussie and local television weatherman Al Roker. Along with providing food to more than three hundred thousand needy New Yorkers every day, City Harvest has developed educational and advocacy initiatives to support access to nutritious food in low-income neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs. Another agency program proposes to reinforce the performance of partners such as community pantries to feed the needy. Their methods has worked so well that concerned citizens elsewhere have followed suit, creating their own local chapters to help feed local men, women, and children.
Furthermore, many food banks have taken root all over the world, but while the idea is a popular one, it is also a fairly recent one, having been inspired by John van Hengel's observation back in 1965 that local grocers in his Arizona town were tossing out food just because of damaged packaging or for approaching their expiration date. Mr. van Hengel organized the collection of such food but soon saw that there was much more than his own community canteen could make use of. And so was the idea of a food bank born - a central point for discarded but otherwise perfectly fine food that could then be made available among the hungry.
Author Resource:
Author Paul Wise frequents sites that offer expert insights by industry veterans such as Robert Toussie and others.
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