The Specialty Food Foundation has awarded $250,000 in grants to support innovative organizations in ten states that are working to address hunger and improve food recovery. These are the first grants to be made by the Foundation, which was established earlier this year by the Specialty Food Association.
The Foundation works to reduce hunger and increase food recovery efforts via grantmaking, education and industry events. It is an outgrowth of the social entrepreneurship and extensive efforts in the areas of anti-hunger put forth by many members of the Specialty Food Association, a not-for-profit trade association for food artisans, importers and entrepreneurs.
Among the first grant recipients are Portland Fruit Tree Project in Portland, Ore., which harvests and distributes fruit from urban fruit trees that would otherwise go to waste and Move for Hunger, Neptune, N.J., which mobilizes the relocation industry to reduce food waste by picking up unwanted food during the moving process to deliver to food banks.
The grant recipients are:
Ceres Community Project, Sebastopol, Calif.
Farmer Foodshare, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia, Norfolk, Va.
Food Forward, North Hollywood, Calif.
Food Runners, San Francisco, Calif.
Food Shift, Berkeley, Calif.
Move For Hunger, Neptune, N.J.
Operation Food Search, St Louis, Mo.
Portland Fruit Tree Project, Portland, Ore.
Rio Grande Food Project, Albuquerque, N.M.
Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, Lumberville, Pa.
Second Helpings, Indianapolis, Ind.
Table to Table, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Tarrant Area Food Bank, Fort Worth, Texas
"With hunger a part of so many lives today, these organizations are playing a key role in addressing the problem in creative ways for the communities they serve. These first grants will help them refine and expand their important work," says Ron Tanner, vice president, philanthropy, government and industry relations for the Specialty Food Association.