ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW:
Food Forward’s mission is to reconnect people with people – through food – by bringing together volunteers and neighbors to share in the gleaning and distributing of locally grown food from private homes and public spaces which is then distributed to local food pantries and organizations serving those in need. Since forming in 2009, Food Forward has rescued over 800,000 pounds of produce from over 325 local backyards and orchards.

Food Forward is growing by leaps and bounds and is at an exciting point in it’s development. To keep up with the increasing opportunities and demands coming to our organization, we are looking for an individual who will assist the core Food Forward team with administrative needs!

We seek someone who is looking for a dynamic experience that will provide a highly valuable work experience in a fast-paced, mission-driven, non profit setting. This position will provide professional experience assisting in the execution of vital programs at Food Forward. The position provides intimate exposure to working with several of Food Forward’s partnership agencies as well. We seek an applicant who is excited to become better familiarized with the Food Justice community of Los Angeles.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Office and Admin Intern will work directly with the Managing Director, Volunteer Coordinator, and the Harvest Coordinator on various projects and tasks pertaining to Food Forward’s daily including the following:

Office/Administrative tasks:
- Help maintain an organized efficient workspace
- Run occasional office-related errands such as buying office supplies (gas money will be provided)
- Assist with correspondence to donors
- Manage inventory and status of merchandise

Harvest management tasks:
- Manage vehicle maintenance on Food Forward vehicles
- Manage the “FruitLine”, Food Forward’s telephone message service.
- Reach out to potential fruit donors to gather basic information
- Help to ensure that the logistics of each pick is organized and coordinated by emailing and calling fruit donors and pantry partners.

Volunteer management tasks
- Reach out to volunteers to gather basic info and send critical details
- Help maintain an organized volunteer database
- Track and manage signed volunteer liability releases
- Update Pick Leader reports in database

QUALIFICATIONS:
We are looking for a team player with a great, can-do attitude. We need a detail-oriented person who enjoys organizing and collecting data and who can work efficiently and comfortably on a website and in Google docs to manage information. Candidate should be a personable multi-tasker, bright and resourceful and a self-starter.  Candidate should be available for at least 3 months.

Other qualifications include:
- College Student or recent graduate
- Strong knowledge and comfort with WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, Google doc, MS Office
- Interest in food justice work desired
- Able to take projects from initial steps to the finish line
- Strong people and public speaking skills
- Must be organized and proficient at Excel
- Must be comfortable with phone calls to homeowners and pantry partners
- Flexible and able to work well under pressure; a team player
- Desire to work in a fast paced environment, start up or non-profit desired
- A valid drivers license and ability to easily navigate the SFV
- Willingness to work some weekends
- Bilingual in English and Spanish is preferred
- Must have a reliable form a transportation

If you are interested in this position, please email your most current resume and a 100-150 word letter explaining why you want to work for Food Forward and what excites you most about our mission. Please send your letter of interest in the body of the email and your resume in PDF format to info@foodforward.org. This position is unpaid.

In the meantime, check out one of our volunteer’s most recent blog posts about Food Forward…Thank you for the post Lowsodiumblog.com!

http://lowsodiumblog.com/2012/04/food-forward-southern-california/

All the best from the FruitQuarters!

at Elysian in Silver Lake

Saturday April 14th 7-11pm!

With the purchase of your ticket you can expect an AMAZING assortment of zesty entertainment, a full menu of gourmet grilled cheeses and delicious eats from Clementine + an open bar with beer from New Belgium Brewery, our famous Grapefruit Forward cocktail and wine pours from Jordan Winery.

The night is sure to be fun-filled, with comedianne extrordinaire Beth Lapides as our evening’s Mistress of Ceremonies. Bushels of entertainment will include everything from interactive visual environments by international video artist Jesse Gilbert, sets of juicy dance tunes spun by DJs Fucsia and Matt Franke, to rolling up your sleeves alongside Miss Rhea Purpose at her ridiculous DIY Kraft Korner, plus other zesty surprises!

There will be a shared abundance of door prizes throughout the night, and a not-so-silent auction as only Food Forward can do it – featuring a bounty of outstanding items for all checkbook sizes: temptations for foodies, book worms, wine snobs, movie buffs, health nuts, sports fans and so much more.

Dont worry, we have parking covered too with free valet service all night.

Come support the work of Food Forward to harvest food, fight hunger & build community       and have a juicy fun time while you’re at it!

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS HERE: http://springmelt.eventbrite.com/

Last spring nearly 100 of you joined us at Clementine for an evening of gourmet grilled cheese and other delights by Chef Annie Miler, to help celebrate our “Coming Out” party in West LA. The event was such a hit and a successful fundraiser that it is back for its second year – even bigger and better. Now known as the SPRING MELT we are moving the event to a larger space – Elysian in Silver Lake. It’s April 14th 7-11pm and will be an all out food, wine, microbrew and cocktail celebration like we have never held before. Beyond the entirely new menu of grilled cheese, salads, desserts provided by Clementine, you will find an open bar with our famous Grapefruit Forward, New Belgium Brewery will be providing a fine new citrus-tinged brew, Jordan Winery is supplying wine, and bushels of fun and entertainment including interactive visual environments by international video artist Jesse Gilbert, rolling up your sleeves along with Miss Rhea Purpose at her ridiculous DIY Kraft Korner, hands-on silk screening, DJ’s dancing and more.

The not-so-silent auction will have items for all wallet sizes from signed books and meals at some of LA’s best restaurants, to an incredible Wine Country package, and yes you could even go home with a lot of heirloom hens! Let us also mention there will be a bounty of incredible door prizes going out to the crowd all night long.

The cost at $75 a ticket is less than many a night on the town – and hey, we are even picking up valet parking.

Tickets are limited and can be purchased at: http://springmelt.eventbrite.com

So come party the night away with and in the process help keep on harvesting food, fighting hunger, and building community.

First Harvest 1/17/09

Being Guinea Pigs for their crazy neighbor Rick’s idea, joining in on the gleaning and knowing Jan 17th is the magical day for us, Ava and Heather are always there to welcome us and pitch in.  Just watching Ava grow to nearly double her size – but more so, seeing her understand and now appreciate the the importance of this work is reward enough to keep coming back – the 16 cases of fruit (with some from a neighbor’s trees from 3 doors up who has recently joined our program) is irresistible.

Third Anniversary Harvest with Ava 1/17/12

In the time since we began the program  in early 2009, with no name, no agenda and just these two trees, we have grown into a professional operation – actually So Cal’s largest – that helps food pantries and other agencies feed our most vulnerable with gleaned/rescued produce. Soberingly – the numbers of food insecure (people who are not sure where their next meal is coming from) has also ballooned since 2009 to 50 million across the country. Staggering, angering and yes, vastly actionable. I’ll go to my grave convinced hunger in America is a solvable issue. Solvable not by growing more food – but simply by DISTRIBUTING it more thoughtfully, equitably and with a keener understanding that our nation wastes over 40% of the edible food we grow/cook/manufacture. Yes, you read that right – 40%!

Yesterday’s pick came on the heels of our 3rd annual Fruitstock weekend in Santa Barbara where over 40 LA volunteers drove 90 minutes north to help glean over 15,000 lbs that were shared by the SB Foodbank, Oxnard Foodshare and MEND.  Two days of kick-ass mandarin madness on two gorgeous properties with our SB Backyard Bounty pals were separated by a potluck with new and old friends, board members, staff and donors.  Again, an honor to lead it, but even more fun just to be a part of it.

As I wait here in the Fruit Cave for SOVA to pick up those 16 cases of navels from yesterday, which no doubt will flow in and out of their efficient pantry door in 24-48 hours, there is some satisfaction knowing that we may not be conquering hunger at Food Forward but we are fighting it and bringing our community closer with every harvest we undertake.

From 85lbs of tangerines delivered to SOVA on Jan. 17th, 2009, we closed out year three yesterday with over 686,000 lbs (or nearly 2.75 million servings) donated to over 25 agencies in LA, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties of all shapes and sizes.

2012 holds amazing promise – new programs, strengthening of the Ventura Branch, social enterprise, new interns, new partnerships, a new board chair (the incredible Pam Kaizer) and more – and along with it more challenges. All that to say, every time you drive by a fully loaded orange or grapefruit tree, I hope you will want to rise to the occasion, strap on a harvest bag and go pick?!

Thanks for all the love, support and Fruitanthropy – and here’s to the next three years of sharing the abundance across Fruitland.

Every month we picked and transported citrus to our local food pantries in and around Ventura County totaling nearly 50,000 lbs! The number of recipient agencies grew as did our wonderful volunteer base. Property owners throughout our county stepped forward and graciously allowed us to pick their trees clean! We’ve partnered with and picked oranges at the International Paper site in Camarillo and Toll Brothers in Moorpark. Their employees rallied and contributed to our hugely successful picks. With Bob and Ryan and 2 pick up trucks, what began as literally a grassroots effort, volunteers now look forward to picking citrus with us in Ventura County every month.

Culminating the year, I was honored and humbled to be selected as Food Forward’s “Super Volunteer” being nominated and then winning the prestigious HALO Award presented by the Deutsch Foundation. Food Forward is the youngest organization to win this award and share this recognition with 4 other winners including Habitat for Humanity.

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported Food Forward last year.

2012 carries great promise and expectation for FF VC. Our goal is to double our picks and bring even more nutritional food to our county’s most vulnerable.

Start your new years off with a resolution you can keep: become a pick leader or property scout! It’s easy, fun and very gratifying.

Email me at martha@foodforward.org if you want to get involved in Ventura County.

All the best to you and I hope I see you up a tree this year!

Martha Penhall

Ventura County Coordinator

Food Forward

It’s that time of year Fruit-lovers!
Yes, it’s FRUITSTOCK weekend in Santa Barbara! YAY!

To honor our last picking weekend in our fiscal fruit year, we are having our Two-Day-Fruitstock-Extravaganza!!

Join us on this fun adventure and celebration where we will pick hundreds of mandarin trees on two beautiful rolling estates.  After our AM pick on Saturday Jan. 14^th, we will have a glorious potluck BBQ.  We will supply lunch on both days and encourage you to bring your friends and family to join our Food Forward Family!  Plus, you’ll be in the gorgeous county of Santa Barbara, so there will be plenty of scenic places to visit.

Sign up to volunteer on our events page TODAY for either one day or both days!

Date: Saturday January 14^th and Sunday January 15^th
Time: 9:30am to 2:30pm.
Location: Goleta, Ca
Ages 10+ welcomed.

ORGANIZATION: Food Forward (501c3 non-profit), www.foodforward.org

HOURS: 20 hours per week M, W, F from 10 – 5pm at our North Hollywood office.

DATES: January 15th, 2012- December 15th, 2012

COMPENSATION: This position is currently unpaid.

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW:
Food Forward’s mission is to reconnect people with people – through food – by bringing together volunteers and neighbors to share in the gleaning and distributing of locally grown food from private homes and public spaces which is then distributed to local food pantries and organizations serving those in need. Since forming in 2009, Food Forward has rescued over 640,000 pounds of produce from over 325 local backyards and orchards.

Food Forward is growing by leaps and bounds and is at an exciting point in it’s development. To keep up with the increasing opportunities and demands coming to our organization, we are looking for an individual who will assist the core Food Forward team with administrative and programmatic needs!

We seek someone who is looking for a dynamic experience that will provide a highly valuable work experience in a fast, mission-driven, non profit setting. This position will provide professional experience assisting in the development, planning, and execution of vital programs at Food Forward. The position provides intimate exposure to working with several of Food Forward’s partnership agencies as well. We seek an applicant who is excited to become better familiarized with the Food Justice community of Los Angeles.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Admin/Program assistant will work directly with the Managing Director, Volunteer Coordinator, and the Harvest Coordinator on various projects and tasks pertaining to Food Forward’s daily operations and programing. The Admin/Prog Assistant will work closely with the core team on following:

Volunteer Coordinator
- Support the volunteer in community outreach and community development efforts to grow volunteer base in LA region and Ventura County.
- Maintain an organized volunteer database
- Maintain strong organizational relationships with super volunteers (pick leaders, property scouts, and neighborhood captains).
- Help with administrative needs to maintain and develop Food Forward Community Chapters.
- Help to ensure that the logistics of each pick is organized and coordinated.
- Make site visits to community organizations, institutions, and events to pitch Food Forward’s mission and encourage involvement.

Harvest Coordinator
- Assist the Harvest Coordinator in maintaining the database of properties and coordinating the scouting of trees in LA and Ventura Counties.
- Manage the “FruitLine”, Food Forward’s telephone messaging service.
- Provide support for the development of the “I Pick It” model
- Conduct research on potential properties for larger picks as well as private picks.
- Help coordinate property scouting with available property scouts.
- Manage Vehicle Maintenance on Food Forward vehicles.

Managing Director
- Assist in the development and implementation of the Farmer’s Market Recovery Program
- Assistance with CAN IT! Program – FF’s food preservation fundraising program.
- Manage inventory and status of merchandise (Create a system that works for Food Forward and clients selling Products).

*This role also requires the Admin/Program Assistant to become a Pick Leader and a Property Scout. This person will be required to lead at least 1 fruit pick monthly and scout 1 property monthly.

QUALIFICATIONS:
Ideally, candidate will have a strong interest in hunger and food justice issues. We are looking for an extremely detail-oriented person who enjoys organizing and collecting data and who can work efficiently and comfortably on a website to manage information. Candidate should be personable and able follow up with property owners of various personalities and temperaments. Candidate must have a strong interest in local fruit tree varietals and fruit tree care. Candidate should be well versed in Los Angeles and SFV geography.

Other qualifications include:
- Bachelors Degree in a related field
- Strong knowledge and comfort with WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, & other social media
- Experience in food justice work desired
- Proven effective data management skills
- Strong people and public speaking skills
- Flexible and able to work well under pressure
- Experience working in a fast paced environment, start up or non-profit desired
- A valid drivers license and ability to easily navigate the SFV
- Willingness to work some weekends
- Bilingual in English and Spanish is preferred
- Must have a reliable form a transportation

If you are interested in this position, please email your most current resume and a 100-150 word letter explaining why you want to work for Food Forward and what excites you most about our mission. Please send your resume and letter of interest in PDF format (one PDF File, please) to Max@foodforward.org.

Hello Fruit Loops!

As we head further into the holidays, we are doing everything we can to prepare for a superb 2012! We hope you can squeeze in 5 minutes of your time to answer some questions on our Volunteer Survey. Your answers will help guide us as we plan for the best possible year ahead!

Please click here : Food Forward’s Volunteer Survey

We truly appreciate your time and input! We wish everyone a fruitastic Holiday Season!

Cheers,

Food Forward Team