It’s that time of year again, the season of giving, sharing and (self) reflection is upon us. As in the past few years, this year the need for food and basic survival items seems to have increased. The food industry comes through every time, giving generously whenever possible. On November 12, PHIL-A-TRUNK, a literal food drive and car show, kicked off the season of giving with its biggest turnout ever this year, with over 4,000 exotic (and some regular) cars pulling through and donating non-perishable food at the Linc in South Philadelphia sports complex. In total, the event generated nearly 180,000 pounds of food donations. Philabundance was welcomed back to the 6abc television studio after Thanksgiving for the Giving Tuesday annual telethon. Loree Jones Smith, CEO of Philabundance, reported that the telethon raised nearly $70,000 in just one day. The biggest event of the season, 93.3 WMMR’S PRESTON & STEVE CAMP OUT FOR HUNGER raised nearly $950,000 in support of Philabundance’s mission and over 1.7 MILLION pounds of food!
The International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) celebrated Giving Tuesday by reflecting on food donation partnerships with the Global Produce and Floral Show. At this year’s show, held in Anaheim, IFPA partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County and Food Forward to rescue and distribute produce and floral and also worked with event partner, GES, to donate furniture and appliances used on the floor during the show. “The partnerships we have with local organizations that help us rescue and deliver produce, floral and more to the communities that host our show are critical to our values and sustainability goals,” said director of trade shows, Kyle McMillan. “We’re also so grateful for our exhibitors for their generosity of donating their products and look forward to continuing our work with these partners at next year’s show in Atlanta, GA.”
IFPA put in place an extensive back of house waste sorting operation to maximize the collection of over six tons of floral green waste. The donation at this year’s show totaled 227,000 pounds of produce and floral going to the communities around Anaheim and Los Angeles. This was rescued and packed by volunteers trained and organized by IFPA’s longstanding partners, Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County. This year, IFPA expanded the partnership to maximize community impact by also partnering with Food Forward who help to distribute food and floral through their LA distribution channels. “As a national innovator in the food loss and waste space, Food Forward leverages its unique and sustainable business model to recover hundreds of thousands of pounds of surplus fruits and vegetables daily, thanks to the generosity of produce donors,” said Rick Nahmias, founder and CEO at Food Forward. In a continued effort to be more sustainable, for the first time ever, IFPA offered a furnishing recycling option which included furniture, refrigerators and more that have been donated to the surrounding communities. That’s a cool innovation!
Then, on December 6, the 14th annual New York Produce Show (NYPS) was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in NYC (photos from the show are on pages 18-19) and after the show closed, an army of more than 50 City Harvest volunteers gathered 70,800 pounds (that’s more than 35 tons, people!) of fresh produce donated by NYPS exhibitors, and immediately delivered it to five partner food pantries for distribution. While at the NYPS, we ran into Evan Ehlers and his team from Sharing Excess. I told you all about the operation Sharing Excess opened at the Hunt’s Point Market in September. Well, the numbers are eye popping: overall, between the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market and Hunt’s Point, Sharing Excess will have rescued in the vicinity of 20 million pounds of produce in 2023. That’s a whopping increase of 230 percent over 2022. This is a win-win-win for everyone…the merchants who save on their trash bills and taxes, the people in need who can have good, fresh produce to eat, and all of us who inhabit the earth, because that much less is going into the already overloaded dumps! Give until it hurts…then give a little bit more.
The Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association is partnering with The Giant Company to celebrate its 100th anniversary with a NEW signature milkshake, the “Salted Caramel.” Representatives from both organizations were on hand on earlier this month at the Camp Hill, PA Giant for a 100th anniversary milkshake toast, as pictured on page 41 of this issue. The Giant Company is offering a free milkshake to the first 100 fans at pre-Farm Show celebrations held at four Central Pennsylvania Giant stores this month. PA Dairymen’s Executive Director Dave Smith said, “The 2024 PA Farm Show will be sweetened by the addition of our new, delicious Salted Caramel Milkshake in celebration of The Giant Company’s 100th anniversary. We always have fun when we offer our fans a new featured milkshake flavor and this year is extra special with our long-time friends and supporters of agriculture, The Giant Company. We are grateful to wonderful businesses like Giant who invest in our communities, in our dairy industry and in our nutritious, wholesome foods and beverages we produce on our farms for families. We are thrilled to celebrate with milkshake fans starting at our Pre-Farm Show Pop-Ups.”
“The Giant Company couldn’t imagine a more delicious way to culminate our 100th anniversary celebrations than by partnering with the PA Dairymen’s Association and creating the salted caramel milkshake,” said Rebecca Lupfer, chief financial officer, The Giant Company. “Having grown up on a family farm and now, working in the retail food industry, I know firsthand how essential of a role agriculture plays in our daily life. We’re proud to support this vital industry and the men and women who work tirelessly to feed Pennsylvania families and can’t wait for the 108th Pennsylvania Farm Show in January!” The PA Farm Show runs from January 6 to 12, 2024 at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg.
The New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) held its annual holiday reception in East Brunswick, NJ on December 6. During the festivities, Linda Doherty, who has served as president and CEO of the NJFC for 20 years, was honored for her service with an inaugural $5,000 “President’s Scholarship,” to be awarded annually to a student from a member company or their family member. Through generous sponsorships, NJFC raised about $15,000 to kickstart the new scholarship. “Our new President’s Scholarship is in honor and celebration of the milestone of Linda Doherty’s 20th year as our president of the food council and 30th anniversary as a driving force behind the success of the association,” said NJFC Chair Andrew Kent of Glass Gardens ShopRite. “The board believes it is a fitting recognition to establish this scholarship featuring Linda since the foundation has grown under her leadership from the humble three scholarships to the incredible distribution we have now.”
“During her decades of dedication and leadership at the Food Council, our association has grown in influence in New Jersey and throughout the nation; expanded member engagement and reach; achieved substantial legislative, regulatory and legal victories; developed many emerging industry leaders; navigated us through the COVID crisis; positioned our financial strength and built our Educational Scholarship Foundation,” he added. “On behalf of the board,
we are proud to offer this scholarship award featuring Linda as an ongoing legacy to her years of commitment to our mission and exemplary service to the food industry.”
In 2010, the NJFC established its Educational Scholarship Foundation with three NJFC student scholarships totaling $6,000. Over time, the fund has steadily grown to 33 scholarships, now totaling more than $105,000 a year with 33 individual member scholarships under the umbrella of the Foundation.
What is so unique about the Educational Development Foundation, Kent noted, is that individual member companies come together under the umbrella of the Food Council Scholarship Program to provide their individual company student scholarships as well.
“Today we are in the season of hope and appreciation,” Doherty said. “I will always cherish this tribute and I am grateful for the meaningful friendships, association achievements, memorable events, industry programs, and legislative, legal and regulatory victories we have had over the past 20 years.” Congratulations Linda!
A tip of the hat to Joe Fantozzi on being named president and COO of Allegiance Retail Services (ARS). A lifelong food industry member, Joe is the perfect person to take the reins of ARS and work with the next generation of ARS co-op members. Auguri, Joe!
Celebrating another trip around the sun this celebratory month of December are: Paul McGurkin, Integrity; Sue Rorke-Lawler, Acme Markets; Scott Smith, Sharing Excess; Alex Baloga, PFMA; and Linda Naddeo, HP Hood. Buon compleanno a tutti!
Happy Christmakwanzahanukkah from all of us at Food Trade News! As we look forward to 2024, may the giving spirit of the holidays remain with you throughout the year. Wishing our readers peace, prosperity and good health! Buone feste!
Quote of the month: “We all get the exact same 365 days. The only difference is what we do with them.” Hillary DePiano
Maria can be reached at 443.631.0172 or [email protected]