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roduceGood is a nonprofit founded in 2004 here in San Diego by Nita Kurmins Gilson, Alexandra White & Jerilyn White from the 2009 grassroots operation of Crop Swap started by Nita. Their mission is to build an active and engaged community committed to finding sustainable solutions to alleviate hunger, reclaim and re-purpose waste and promote the health & well being of all.
In 2023, 400 San Diego growers and farms will donate thousands of pounds of fruits and vegetables to 50 feeding partners. 800 volunteers will harvest and deliver produce through 640 produce recovery events. In 2020, ProduceGood reached the lifetime milestone of recovering 1 million pounds of produce, thus keeping over 500 TONS of edible food from going to landfill AND providing over 3 MILLION servings of nutritious fruits and vegetables to San Diego's food insecure.
Through this grant the Solana Beach Eco Rotary Club would support the important work done within the Market Share program of ProduceGood. Particularly to support their project at the Leucadia Farmers Market with operational funds to facilitate the collection and redistribution of the donated produce. We believe ProduceGood operates under the same standards and philosophy as Rotary and is extremely effective in serving our community.
Today 40% of all US food goes to waste and Statistics from the San Diego Hunger Coalition show that 1 in 3 San Diegans is nutrition-insecure, or unable to provide three nutritious meals a day for themselves and/or their families. By sourcing and harvesting the excess bounty in the county and creating access for those in need, they are solving the problems of hunger and waste in one step. To enable their mission, it takes a green village and hundreds of volunteers each week to connect the source of excess produce with the need for food.
ProduceGood is built on values closely aligned with Rotary and particularly Solana Beach Eco Rotary Club: Reciprocity and Trust, Respect and Inclusion, Collaboration & Innovation, Sustainability and Passion.
ProduceGood is organized into 3 programs:
1.) CROP SWAP: A residential and farm produce rescue which is distributed via San Diego Food Bank and Feeding San Diego among others.
2.) MARKET SHARE: Engages local Farmers Markets to rescue excess edible organics from landfills. Market Share is their Farmers Market food recovery program, with operations at three Sunday Farmers Markets, each week. Market Share is an incredible community platform to see food-rescue in action at Hillcrest, Solana Beach and Leucadia markets.
3.) COMMUNITY ORCHARD: Encompasses produce rescue and education for volunteers and community outreach. They host community events such as the Meet & Greet to hear stories directly from produce recipients, farmers and ProduceGood partners. The Solana Beach Eco Rotary Club was featured in their Harvest Heroes of 2021 as a community-difference maker. The Community Awareness outreach program educates residents about the importance of keeping organics out of
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