Rolling Harvest Food Rescue

Rolling Harvest Food Rescue began in 2009 when Founder and Executive Director Cathy Snyder began to volunteer at a food pantry in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Soon after, a bountiful farmers’ market opened up less than a mile away. Snyder quickly realized that she was able to enjoy the taste and benefits of the market products simply because she had a car and disposable income, a luxury many of the food pantry clients were lacking. Returning to the food pantry the following week, continuing to hand out yet more mac and cheese, high-sodium soups and bruised bananas to struggling, food-insecure families at their most vulnerable felt unacceptably unfair and wrong, and she knew she was going to find a better way. Fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables are simply out of reach financially for both the food pantries and the families they help. Paradoxically, the foods that most can afford are unhealthy foods with the least amount of nutrition, often leading to diabetes, high blood pressure and even obesity. Ms. Snyder saw that there were many local farmers and food producers who want to share their excess vegetables and fruits with neighbors in need, but lacked the time and staff it would take to ensure effective distribution. Additionally, food pantries and other hunger-relief social service sites often lacked volunteer help to collect the bounty from local farms. Rolling Harvest Food Rescue now fills this nutritional and logistical gap by collecting fresh produce and meats from these generous farms when it is most convenient for the farmer, growing long-term relationships with both the producers and the hunger-relief sites we serve. Rolling Harvest has now delivered more than one and a half million servings of locally grown, mostly organic fresh fruits and vegetables, including regular donations of organic healthy meats to food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, and senior housing sites throughout Bucks County in Pennsylvania and into Hunterdon and Mercer Counties in New Jersey. All economic indicators point to a persistent need for healthy food and help for 15-20% of our neighbors (children, seniors, and families) who continue to struggle with government cutbacks, lack of employment opportunities and a minimum wage that is not manageable. Rolling Harvest exists to increase access to fresh produce and healthy food choices for this portion of the population by effectively capturing and redistributing excess food resources from committed growers in the PA/NJ region.