Our Story
OUR STORY
Since 2009, we’ve been on a mission to reduce food waste and increase access to healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables. See some of our milestones along the way.
Timeline
May 2022: 250 Million Pounds of produce recovered and donate
Winter 2021 – Award Season
- 2021 EPA Food Recovery Challenge Innovation recipient, marking the sixth year that Food Forward received this honor as the only food recovery organization to win six years in a row
- 2021 Classy Award Social Innovation Winner
- 2021 Anthem Award
- Humanitarian Action & Services
- Sustainability, Environment, & Climate
We provide produce to 160 new community partners
Over 160 new partners receive free surplus fruits and vegetables from Food Forward in 2020, many of whom started food programs in response to the pandemic. We also launch new food hub distributions, providing a truckload of produce on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to 8-20 community partners, at a total of 12 sites in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
July 2020: The Produce Pit Stop opens The Sprout
The Produce Pit Stop opens The Sprout, furnished with an additional loading dock that streamlines distribution of fresh produce to mid-size and smaller hunger relief agencies
Our Volunteer Leaders recover produce at 185 events per month
Despite the challenges of COVID-19, our Backyard Harvest and Farmers Market Recovery programs both have an incredible year of recovery. After a brief hiatus, our trained volunteers resume harvests and gleans with increased safety protocols, recovering produce at an average of 185 events per month.
In response to COVID-19, we launch an emergency expansion initiative
With food insecurity rates rising and more food going to waste on farms, we work quickly to expand our Wholesale Produce Recovery program. This includes doubling the Produce Pit Stop warehouse footprint to include “The Sprout,” securing new equipment and loading dock space, hiring five new food rescue positions, and redeploying staff. The expansion allows us to distribute an average of 1 million pounds of produce each week for the last six months of 2020.
‘Faces of Food Forward’ highlights 10 amazing individuals
To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we work with local filmmakers Serena Creative to create a series of short videos and accompanying photos, each featuring one individual who has made Food Forward’s work possible over the past decade. You can watch the stories here.
We win our 4th EPA Food Recovery Challenge Award
Food Forward is the first nonprofit in the U.S. to win four consecutive Food Recovery Challenge Awards from the EPA. We are recognized in the ‘Innovation’ category for the growth of our Produce Pick-Up program, which is now serving three sites in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Food Forward turns 10!
We mark the anniversary by signing the lease for our Produce Depot near DTLA. This new warehouse space will enable Food Forward to recover and donate 40 million pounds of produce each year, doubling its current produce recovery efforts. The 6,000 square foot Produce Depot will expand our capacity with refrigeration, dry storage, workspace for staff, a new software system to track produce, food recovery equipment, and two new box trucks
Food Forward recovers and donates 50 million pounds
A ceremony at Franklin Canyon in Beverly Hills marks the occasion.
Food Forward produce reaches 1,800 hunger relief agencies
Now, 1,800 partner agencies across Southern California receive Food Forward recovered produce.
We collect 200+ varieties of fruits and vegetables
Through our three programs, we recover over 200 varieties of fruits and vegetables for our partner agencies.
Food Forward partners with the Watts Labor Community Action Committee to launch our Produce Pick-Up Program
An innovative partnership model supplies produce recovered by the Wholesale Recovery Program to the South Los Angeles community through a market-style distribution. The distributions happen twice a month and generally provide 12,000-15,000 pounds of fresh, free fruits and vegetables to community members and local hunger relief agencies.
We pilot the kNOw Waste Youth Education Program
An interdisciplinary, standards-aligned program that encourages 5th graders to reduce waste and address food insecurity is launched in four LAUSD fifth grade classes.
Volunteers give 21,000 hours of service
9,000 volunteer shifts are filled at backyard fruit picks and farmers market recovery events in 2016.
Food Forward produce feeds over 1.25 million people across eight counties
Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Riverside, and Imperial counties receive recovered produce from Food Forward’s programs.
We win our first U.S. EPA Food Recovery Challenge award
Food Forward is named a regional winner for wasted food prevention.
We partner with Smog City Brewing Co.
The Torrance-based brewery releases Kumquat Saison—a tart beer that benefits Food Forward’s food recovery work, and is created with kumquats harvested by our volunteers.
We launch our thirteenth weekly Farmers Market glean
The Farmers Market Recovery Program starts collection at market number 13, the Calabasas Farmers Market, with cumulative produce recovery of over 500,000 lbs.
We buy a 24′ truck!
A successful crowdfunding campaign helps us raise $45,000 for our own vehicle to recover fruits and vegetables from the Wholesale Produce Market. See the video here.
We launch the Wholesale Produce Recovery Program
Food Forward begins regular produce recovery from the Wholesale Produce Market in Downtown Los Angeles and, using borrowed vehicles, recovers over 3 million pounds of fruits and vegetables in 8 months.
At the CSUN orange grove, we hold our largest volunteer event ever
400 volunteers harvest 20,000 pounds of oranges from the historic orange grove at Cal State University Northridge.
Food Forward launches the Can It! Academy
A 12-week food preservation and cottage arts certificate program taught by Chef Ernest Miller is offered in the spring and fall at Gourmandise School of Sweets & Savories.
We launch the Farmers Market Recovery Program
We begin by collecting surplus produce at three markets: Hollywood, Studio City, and Santa Monica Wednesday. The first glean takes place at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market and we collect 1,313 pounds on that first day!
We recover our millionth pound of produce
And our first ever commemorative bandana is created to mark the occasion!
Food Forward is a nonprofit
Food Forward is officially granted 501(c)(3) status.
Food Forward opens our Ventura County branch
Former volunteers Martha Penhall and Ryan Glatt head up the new VC Branch in Moorpark!
Food Forward hosts our first grilled cheese gala
The fundraising event that will eventually be known as the Spring Melt is held at Clementine Bakery and features an array of grilled cheese sandwiches created by Annie Miler. We raise $6,450!
We buy our first vehicle
A cargo van, The Fruitmobile, is the first of our fruit fleet! The purchase of the vehicle is made possible by a matching grant challenge from the Plum Foundation.
Food Forward donates 1 million servings
Food Foward volunteers hit a major milestone and pick 250,000 pounds of fresh produce—the equivalent of 1,000,000 servings for our neighbors in need.
We end the year in a big way!
We serve 5 hunger relief agencies
Tangerines, navel and valencia oranges, pomegranates, tomatoes, lemons, persimmons, and grapefruit are harvested and donated to hunger relief agencies throughout 2009.
The first harvest takes place on January 17
With only a couple of volunteers and a single backyard, Rick Nahmias leads the first “pick” and harvests 800+ pounds of oranges and tangerines. 100% of this fruit is donated to SOVA’s food pantry just miles away from where the fresh citrus was picked.