Rick Namhais, Executive Director, Carol Goldstein, Board Member, Ally Gialketsis, Ventura Branch Coordinator, Jill Sarick Santos Ventura Branch Manager and Emily Parker Fundraising Manager at ‘friend-raising’ event.
Food Forward has been connecting those most vulnerable to food insecurity in our community with abundant fresh produce gleaned from farms, orchards, backyards and farmers markets since 2012 in Ventura County. They hosted their first community ‘friend-raising’ event on Sunday, November 13th at Ventura Spirits.
Nearly 100 friends and supporters of Food Forward were in attendance: local farmers, foodies and others interested in promoting more sustainable agricultural. Everyone enjoyed delicious food from Sespe Pizza, hand-crafted distilled beverages from Ventura Spirits, refreshing local wines from Paradise Pantry and locally brewed beer from Topa Topa Brewery.
Executive Director, Rick Nahmias shared the story of how Food Forward started with a few volunteers from Craigslist and a friend’s orange tree. 25 million pounds later, the organization is serving over 350 hunger relief agencies and has over 7,000 volunteers throughout Southern California.
Food Forward hosts regular “Backyard Harvests” and also gleans at the Thousand Oaks and Ventura farmers markets every week. Volunteers commit to about an hour and a half and can easily provide over 120 servings of fresh fruit or produce to someone in need in our community.
To learn more about Food Forward and to sign-up to volunteer, visit www.foodforward.org.
