There is a nationwide trend of food companies giving less and less food to charitable purposes. This is because of better quality control and tighter inventory operations in combination with the appearance of cut-rate retailers dealing in damaged products that once would have been donated. This has led to food banks and soup kitchens experimenting more and more with in-house production.
None of the operations below is anywhere near self-sufficiency. They seem to be capitalized in two ways; by traditional funding sources that are impressed by a self-reliance or educational component, or by selling shares to rich people under a CSA arrangement and using the proceeds to cover the food bank work- not unlike a voluntary redistribution system.
These are examples of tentative and provisional responses to the problems of the present, and could serve as the nucleus of more substantial solutions.
"The Urban Garden Program which was founded in May, 1992, is the newest program of the Foodbank. Presently, 140 low-income families from the South, South-Central and Pico-Union areas till plots in the 7.5 acre garden. Land, seeds, water, tools, and training are provided free of charge to gardeners, who keep all the produce. The urban garden has received local and national attention."
LA Regional Food Bank is on it. Their info packet includes Food Not Bombs promotionals and a xeroxed Keith McHenry interview. Also included are news clippings on the shrinking of the waste-food stream.
"The Homeless Garden Project began in May of 1990, the brainchild of Dr. Paul Lee, well known local herbalist and humanitarian. The project is with the Santa Cruz Citizen's Committee for the homeless, a 501(c)3 corporation serving the homeless citizens of Santa Cruz County."
"At this point, 15 homeless gardeners ar employed by the project for 12 hours each week at $5.00 an hour. Funds to pay these salaries has come from a variety of sources, primarily from individual support and the sales of our produce. The Garden Project is a member of the Golden West Chapter of the American Horticultural Therapy Association and has been certified organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers."
"The Food Bank Farm has become a model for communities nationwide. It its one of the largest and most efficient CSAs in the country, and the first to help feed the hungry in our communities."
"Your share of the harvest helps:Basically, the shares sold to CSA members cover the cost of also producing about 30 acres of vegetables for the food bank.
"The Isles Community Gardening Program transforms vacant land into sharred gardens for food, recreation, and beautification of neighborhoods. The program addresses several challenges faced by Trenton residents, including a shortage of supermarkets, lack of open space, and neighborhood instability. Isles offers a broad range of material, technical, and organizational support to groups of four or more families who wish to start a community garden in their neighborhood."
Two interesting things; the Howell Farm sometimes takes its horses and oxen down to Trenton to plow garden plots in the spring. Also, Rutgers University has a piece of an Isles plot where they are trying to develop mustard plants that rehabilitate contaminated urban soil by scavenging metal ions from it.
"Community Farms Outreach, a newly formed charitable corporation, will manage the farm. Its mission is to promote, support,and manage charitable and educational farms- to preserve farms in the urban and suburban community for their beauty and as a resource for education and hunger relief."
Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee
Bread and Justice Food Pantry
the Bristol Lodge meals program
and Food For Free
are some of the groups making use of this project.
"The project is a training garden where low-income people will learn to plan and work intensive vegetable plots producing nutritious food. They will be encouraged to use skills learned in this project to supplement their individual and family diets. The project will also provide nutritional education and opportunities for economic activity and, most importantly, encourage self-reliance. The produce could be consumed at the Community Kitchen, divided among gardeners, or sold at the Farmer's Market."
Not a food bank farm, but a sizeable portion of their revenue comes through a WIC program called Farm to Family. It involves vouchers which can only be spent at farmstands.