Rents in New Jersey have risen nearly 33% in the last year alone.
In 2022, spending on food grew by more than 11%, the largest annual increase in the last 40 years.
And gas prices, while down, are still about a dollar higher on average than they were in 2019.
In a post-Covid world, many families are struggling to make ends meet. But that’s a reality that Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, a nonprofit serving counties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, grappled with a decade before the pandemic.
Food Rescue connects local farmers with food pantries and other food outlets to share their produce with food-insecure communities.
“The number one thing families have to donate is healthy food, which happens to be more expensive,” said Kathy Snyder, founder and executive director of Rolling Harvest Food Rescue.
“It’s a terrible time. Forty percent of the people we are helping now could not have imagined two years ago that they would go to a community meal or a pantry, she continued. “We’re not going to cure hunger, but we can certainly ease budget pressures and provide healthy, basic food. Maybe it means you can pay your heating bill because we’re helping you with food.’
Working with more than 40 farms and 200 volunteers, Rolling Harvest Food Rescue collects Garden State seasonal produce such as corn, tomatoes, strawberries and asparagus for 80 food pantries in Hunterdon and Mercer counties, as well as Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania. 34,000 people every year.
And it starts with one text.
“Farmers just text us and say, ‘We’ve got broccoli, tomatoes, etc. left in the field, come and get it,'” Snyder said. , take everything and immediately give it away.”
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Produce is distributed through Fresh Connect, which provides food directly to families in need, through four free farmers markets in Bucks County, or through local food pantries such as Flemington Area Food Pantry, Fisherman’s Mark Food Pantry in Lumberville, Frenchtown Presbyterian Church and Delaware Valley Food Pantry in Lumberville.
Reasons why a farmer does not want to harvest all of his produce include labor shortages or high labor costs; time and weather, in case an approaching storm makes it difficult to harvest the entire crop; or even a few ugly ducklings.
“If it’s not perfect, they can’t sell it,” Snyder said. “If a carrot has two legs, it’s just as tasty. And if there’s a little bump on the tomato, it’s just as tasty, but they can’t sell it, so they won’t spend money picking it.”
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It all started when Snyder was volunteering at a food pantry in Lumberville. She had an epiphany one day as she was leaving her volunteer shift to head to the farmers market.
“I could load up at the farmer’s market, come home and serve this great, local, healthy food to my family, and the next day I’d go back to the pantry and it wouldn’t be the same food I saw,” Snyder said. “I had that ‘aha’ moment that it was so wrong. And that was the beginning.”
To help: Visiting volunteering rollingharvest.org/volunteer-opportunities/ or donate by visiting rollingharvest.org/make-a-donation-2022gt/.
To get help: If you are a Bucks County resident, you can apply to attend one of Rolling Harvest Food Rescue’s free farmers markets at rollingharvest.org/education-programs/fresh-connect-bucks-county/. If you live in another county, visit one of their partner pantries at rollingharvest.org/hunger-relief-recipients/.
Jenna Intersimon has been a contributor to the USA TODAY NETWORK in New Jersey since 2014 after becoming a blogger-turned-reporter after starting her award-winning travel blog. To get unlimited access to her stories about food, drink and entertainmentplease sign up or activate your digital account today.
Contacts: JIntersimone@MyCentralJersey.com
