We are proud to say the FF team grew by leaps and bounds this weekend, and they all should take a bow: whether it was Bari, Win and Byron holding down the forts as pick leaders in Reseda and North Hollywood or the folks like Wendy, Deborah, Robert, David, Judy , Martha, Charles, Emily, Luke, Rich and Elizabeth who helped coordinate the over two dozen properties we gleaned for Big Sunday weekend – or the over 100 volunteers who picked and picked – EVERYONE’S energy was amazing.
Riding up to SOVA Sunday to borrow their van (yes, FF STILL NEEDS A VAN!) I was once again enlightened to the diversity of who Food Forward serves. There sitting on the bench waiting for the pantry to open were Latino couples, elderly white men and women, Black mothers with babies, middle-aged homeless individuals, South Asian immigrant families…basically a huge cross section of LA – a sobering reminder that any one of us could be on that bench should the fragile systems that hold our lives and families together fail. That fact was driven home more as I arrived to our Northridge home based (courtesy of the Buratti family) to see volunteers arriving early – white, Latino, Asian, Black young, old…
Food Forward serves our community – and is made up of our community – a fact I am incredibly proud of. And the fact we, as a massive team inspired by the Big Sunday events, harvested nearly 12,000 lbs of fresh fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste, made it all the better.
We hope to post more pix soon but for now, here are a few.
Also, – BIG shout outs to Erica, Marie and Carl for AMAZING hand-eye-volunteer coordination and stamina which has been going on behind the scenes for weeks on end – and the SOVA and MEND for incredible ongoing onsite support 🙂
See you all up a tree soon!
Best Wishes to those in the Fruit World
-Rick
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