The Domenica Foundation is funding a pilot program to offer fresh produce at Wholesome Riches food distributions. This partnership among Domenica, our grantee Wholesome Riches, and a Philadelphia nonprofit called Sharing Excess gives clients a choice of fruit and vegetables for their families.
Wholesome Riches provides groceries to low-income residents on school grounds, where the distribution is convenient to families. Until now, Wholesome Riches distributions rarely included fresh foods. Once in a while the food bank had a few random fruits or vegetables, but usually the only offerings were shelf-stable foods.
“Since we first visited Wholesome Riches, we saw a glaring need for fresh options,” said Elena Piperno, Domenica Foundation director. “Now, through this partnership, clients can have their pick of several different fruits and vegetables, at every distribution.”
Sharing Excess is a Philadelphia nonprofit that rescues edible produce, working with grocery stores, retailers, wholesalers, and farmers. It then reallocates the rescued produce to communities in need through food pantries like Wholesome Riches.
“Thanks to Sharing Excess, now Wholesome Riches families will be consistently receiving fresh produce–and they can count on it, every time!” said Elena.
Sharing Excess delivers the food to the school sites the morning of the distribution. Though staff don’t know in advance what they will have to deliver, they do work with Wholesome Riches staff to allocate culturally appropriate foods by neighborhood. For vegetables with which people might not be familiar, they provide recipe cards.
The produce is set up like a farmers’ market so guests can choose what they want. Jair, a volunteer from Rowan University at the Veterans Memorial School site, said, “Some people wanted it all while others just took what they liked. The bananas were everyone’s favorite!”
“I like seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they get to choose something they like,” said Grace Morrow, Wholesome Riches project manager of distributions. “I also like when they look at something they don’t like and make a funny face or stick out their tongue and shake their head No. We can communicate by gestures and laughter even though we have a language barrier.”
Wholesome Riches piloted the fresh produce distribution at three sites –including the site we adopted, Veterans Memorial School—in September. (See more photos from the September 23 distribution on Facebook.) Next month, the other three locations will test it out. The program will be in full swing in November in time for the holidays.
“We’re thrilled about this partnership!” said Elena. “The immediate benefit to Wholesome Riches and the families it serves is already well worth it. But I’d also like to see if we can connect other grantees with Sharing Excess.”