CNHI
Greensburg —
Human Services Food Pantry is pleased to announce that it has joined the AmpleHarvest.org campaign - a nationwide effort to enable neighborhood food pantries to be easily located by local backyard gardeners wishing to share their excess garden bounty with neighbors in need.
Local food pantries usually receive their supplies from regional food banks, government programs and neighborhood donations. They generally do not include fresh produce because of distribution and storage issues leaving food pantry clients with access only to canned vegetables and fruit.
With one out of six American families now relying on pantries to help feed them, the pantries often have a hard time meeting the demand.
At the same time, millions of backyard gardeners across America frequently find that their vegetable and fruit gardens provide far more produce than they can possibly use or share with friends. The remainder is often either left to rot in the garden or put into the trash, which produces methane as it decomposes- a global warming gas.
Gardeners who want to share part of their harvest are often unable to find local pantries because they typically do not have a yellow page listing or Internet presence.
To address this, the AmpleHarvest.org website enables food pantries to register their name, phone, address, an optional photograph of the pantry to make it easier to find, and day(s) and time(s) they can accept the gardeners' produce. Gardeners and other donors also have the option of using AmpleHarvest iPhone app available as a free download from the Apple iTunes store.
Now that Human Services Food Pantry is a part of the AmpleHarvest.org campaign, area backyard gardeners will be able to quickly find the pantry using the personalized driving instructions available on the site. More than 1,700 food pantries participate nationwide.
According to AmpleHarvest.org founder, Gary Oppenheimer, "Two years ago, my own garden grew more produce than we could possibly use, and I quickly found that there are only so many cucumbers you can give your friends and still have them call you a friend. Our community garden also left a lot of produce to rot on the vines. When I searched on the Internet for pantries, the nearest one listed was twenty-five miles away even though my own town has five. That was when it became clear that AmpleHarvest.org was desperately needed."
Human Services Food Pantry welcomes fresh produce donations for its clients. Additionally, information will be posted from time to time by the pantry on the site, listing those store bought items that are in short supply at the pantry- this to enable anyone wishing to help their neighbors in need.
