Returning from a great but exhausting trip to NY, it was a wonderful to make up yesterday AM to see the story Mary MacVean of the LA Times wrote on the front of yesterday’s Food Section about fruit gleaning and Food Forward.
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-gleaners9-2009sep09,0,604880.story
I know I speak for the rest of the FF volunteers and crew in appreciation of the detailed reporting she did and great time she took to understand what our group is doing, the multiple levels FF works on and how we are growing.
To make the day even better, Erica joined me for a brief but meaningful pomegranate pick in Valley Village at sunset. It was meaningful on two levels: first it was where she, Carl and myself met for the first time to harvest tangerines last spring and realize they wanted to help our organization get off the ground. But additionally, Luke from Mend came by to pick up the fruit and I found myself quite moved when I learned how it would be distributed to Mend’s clients. He had taken the time to do research and find out that pomegranates are a specifically beneficial good for diabetics and had devised a plan where by they would be the specific recipients of this harvest. It made this new tart, hard to pick and somewhat quirky fruit even more special – it wasn’t about the quantity, but the meaning each piece would have to those who received it…
FoodForward's Blog 
I have donated money to Heifer.I would hope the Food Forward could get feedlots,Paul Newman’s Foundation, and chicken farmers into the mix of customers.
They can all use the excess fruit and help clean up the disease problems created by these plants.