About the Nonprofit
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Food Forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people in need and inspiring others to do the same.
In January 2009, Rick Nahmias was walking through his neighborhood in Valley Glen, California with his dog and stumbled—almost quite literally—upon the concept that became Food Forward. Rick realized the vast amount of wasted fruit in his own neighborhood could become a sustainable source of nutrition for the food insecure. With only two volunteers and a single backyard, over 800 pounds of fruit was produced from the first “pick.” In the last 10 years, Food Forward has rescued over 85 million pounds (340 million servings) of fresh local produce.
Food Forward collects surplus fruits and vegetables through three programs: Backyard Harvesting, Farmers Market Recovery, and Wholesale Produce Market Recovery.
All produce is delivered to over 200 hunger relief organizations, some of whom distribute to an additional 1,600 local direct service agencies. This nutritious produce reaches people in need through social service agencies of all kinds, and gleaning work is provided by 7,000+ community volunteers at over 180 produce recovery events every month.
Food Forward provides an innovative, cost-effective, scalable, and replicable solution to the increasing need for food donations and the shortage of nutritious options available to our Southern California neighbors in need.
