It started with a poolside conversation with a friend of ours who teaches in the Baltimore City school system. Hungry Harvest had partnered up with the schools in her area, and she was sharing — quite supportively — Hungry Harvest’s mission and the healthy impact they were having with children who lacked the finances and resources for a balanced diet.

My wife and I are no strangers to healthy eating. We’ve ventured on many vegetarian journeys (and for me, a few stints as a vegan), over the last few decades. We did it for ourselves, though, and it didn’t go much further than that.

Two things of importance here. First, we’ve also struggled with the lure of quick foods and the decadent experiences of some of the taboo delicacies. It’s easy for us to get sucked into that routine of convenient and tasty meals.

Second, we’ve looked at a lot of Co-Op deals with local farmers. Most of them are pretty good, if not outstanding. Nearly all of them, however, are asking for a full-season (usually 20-24 weeks) kind of commitment. And, the variation of fruits and vegetables you receive each week would leave us a little worried that we would be getting too much kale and not enough peaches, cantaloupe, and peppers.

When we did a little research into Hungry Harvest, however, we were immediately attracted to the work they do to support families in dietary needs in and around Baltimore. As well, you are on a week-to-week schedule with them, and you can modify your orders to supplement with fruits, vegetables, and even breads that are not in the package we ordered (they have everything from Mini Harvest, Full Harvest, to Super Harvest with conventional or organic options). You can even specify a full-fruit or full-veggie order. Their produce packages begin at just $15. So many options, and all of them are healthy and yummy.

The story behind Hungry Harvest is simple.

Per their website, “Produce in a SNAP is a partnership between Hungry Harvest and Baltimore City Public Schools to bring fresh, affordable produce to food deserts in order to promote healthy eating and fight hunger. The goal is to allow food-insecure families and individuals who could benefit from affordable produce, including those on government assistance programs such as SNAP/EBT, WIC, and SSDI, to stretch their food budgets and put nutritious produce on their dinner table.”

• 40% of food in the US goes to waste.
• 16 million children in America struggle with hunger.
• 6 billion pounds of fruit and vegetables go wasted each year in the US.
• Each year, American consumers, businesses, and farmers spend $218 billion, or 1.3% of GDP, a year growing, processing, transporting, and disposing food that is never eaten.
• If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter behind the US and China.
• If one-quarter of the food wasted were saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people globally.

“We believe that no food should go to waste and no person should go hungry. That’s why we source 🍐, hand pack and securely deliver delicious boxes of recovered produce a weekly and bi-weekly basis. For every delivery, we subsidize 1-2 lbs of produce for families living in food deserts through our Produce in a SNAP sites. We currently deliver in Maryland, DC, Northern Virginia, Philly, South Jersey, and South Florida.”

Amy and I just finished our first meal with Hungry Harvest produce, and we are excited to continue to support them every way we can. They have many volunteer and staff options available to be a part of their mission. As we continue to improve our health, it’s good to know we are helping a worthwhile organization like Hungry Harvest improve the lives of others as well.

Hungry Harvest offers many discounts and incentives. If you are interested in ordering produce from Hungry Harvest and want to save on your first order, let them know that you heard about them from Amy VanWestervelt. We are excited to do everything we can to spread the word of how they are helping so many in our own communities.