Providence, RI — Providence-based nonprofit local food hub, Farm Fresh RI is excited to announce that its Hope’s Harvest program has just recovered its one-millionth pound of food from local farms to feed Rhode Islanders struggling with food insecurity. Hope’s Harvest mobilizes volunteers to harvest surplus fruits and vegetables from local farms, contracts with the growers, and pays them a fair price for this otherwise wasted produce. The program then distributes the fresh food to hunger relief agencies across the state. Nearly half of the million pounds recovered came from a process called “gleaning,” when surplus produce is gathered from local farms and orchards for feeding community members in need. The rest of the million pounds for hunger relief was recovered through surplus purchasing and contracting with local growers.
“Gleaning is an efficient and effective solution to the twin challenges of food waste and hungry people,” explained Farm Fresh RI’s Director of Value Chain Strategy and founder of Hope’s Harvest, Eva Agudelo. “Recovering food in this way strengthens our local food system and makes our communities less dependent on commodity food shipped from thousands of miles away instead of what’s in our own backyard.”
The one-millionth pound mark was reached on November 9th as Hope’s Harvest volunteers visited Wishing Stone Farm in Little Compton, RI, and filled bins of freshly picked leeks. 345 lb. of leeks were then distributed to St. John’s Lodge Food Bank in Portsmouth, RI; East Bay Food Pantry in Bristol, RI; and East Bay Community Action Program in Newport, RI. This impressive achievement is the result of five years of hard work by Hope’s Harvest and its 1,325-plus volunteers, who since 2018 have engaged in over 9,000 hours of labor to glean produce from 56 local farms. During this time, the program has provided this fresh produce to 53 hunger relief agencies in RI — serving approximately 35,000 food-insecure Rhode Islanders every month.
“We are in awe of the many, many people who have come together to do such good for their community,” Agudelo said. “We’re honored that our farmers, agencies, and volunteer partners have contributed their time, resources, and hard work to ensure our neighbors have access to fresh, nutritious, locally grown food.”
Rumford-based hunger relief agency, We Share Hope, has been a partner of Hope’s Harvest for many years, providing fresh produce for their school-based food pantries, partner meal sites, and community distributions.
“Hope’s Harvest’s focus on fresh, local produce fills a huge gap in our efforts to provide our clients with food that is not only filling, but nutritious. Fresh produce are often priced higher than shelf-stable bulk items and our dollars don’t go as far,” said We Share Hope’s Executive Director Johanna Corcoran. “Thanks to our partnership with Hope’s Harvest we can ensure that folks experiencing food insecurity have their nutritional needs met in a dignified way.”
Hasbro Children’s Hospital has been another strong and valued partner of Hope’s Harvest for several years. The hospital offers a free farmers market for patients and their families that brings nutritious food to approximately 100 participants each time it’s held. Dr. Celeste Corcoran, Hasbro’s community outreach program director and a champion of bringing fresh food to Hasbro’s patients and families, said: “We here at Hasbro Children’s Hospital are so indebted to the Hope’s Harvest team for the wonderful fresh foods that we have been able to share with our families. They are thrilled with the food. One young patient of mine summed it up: ‘DELICIOUS.’”
Local farmers are also key beneficiaries of the Hope’s Harvest program. Patch Tseng Putterman, farm team member and organizational development strategist at the Tiverton-based Movement Ground Farm, explained: “Growing exactly the right crops and quantities to supply our customers while minimizing food waste is an excruciating puzzle. Hope’s Harvest is an amazing outlet to absorb a lot of the crops we otherwise couldn’t sell.”
Hope’s Harvest is busy gleaning on Rhode Island farms every spring through fall, with activities in the fields slowing during deep winter months. Anyone interested in getting involved as a volunteer, farm, or agency partner can learn more about the program at farmfreshri.org/hopesharvest or reach out to Hope’s Harvest Operations Manager Shannon Hickey at HH@farmfreshri.org.
About the Practice of Gleaning
Farm-based food recovery, also known as “gleaning,” is the ancient practice of collecting unharvested produce from a farmer’s fields and distributing it to people in need. There are over 250 gleaning projects across the United States (nationalgleaningproject.org), which makes gleaning a proven and well documented model for improving food security and minimizing food waste.
About Hope’s Harvest
Hope’s Harvest started in 2018 as Rhode Island’s first farm-based food recovery project, with the mission to improve the livelihoods of local farmers, increase food security for our most vulnerable residents, and get everyone engaged in strengthening the food system by eliminating on-farm food waste in RI. Since its start, the program has grown to include not only farm-based food recovery but also expanding markets for local growers by engaging them in the emergency food system. Hope’s Harvest is proud to be a program of Farm Fresh RI since 2022, bringing fresh, nutritious, locally grown produce to our neighbors in need. Learn more at farmfreshri.org/hopesharvest.
The work of Farm Fresh RI’s Hope’s Harvest program is made possible in part by the Rhode Island Foundation, RI Department of Environmental Management, Point32Health Foundation, and other generous sponsors and individual donors.
