Fresh Produce for the Homeless
Some time ago I wrote about Spiral Gardens, a community garden in Berkeley that donates produce and profit from its stand to a low-income housing group nearby.
While speaking at a panel about Jews and Social Justice last month, a woman from the audience who is a member of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco told us about that Jewish community’s involvement in the Free Farm Stand.
The goals of The Free Farm Stand include:
•help make locally grown, fresh and nutritious organic produce accessible to all, especially those families and individuals on low-incomes and tight budgets.
•help empower people who have the space to grow their own food and become more self-reliant.
•promote good nutrition and health
In addition to growing as much produce as possible, they also have a framework to harvest and collect produce from gardens in the Mission District. They also receive surplus from the local farmer’s market which they can distribute to homeless and low income populations.
If you are interested in volunteering, please call Lauren at Produce to the People: producetothepeople@gmail.com or by phone at 415-828-9733
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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist (now available on Kindle) and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/
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