2015 Year End Newsletter
Dear friends,
Happy New Year! Urban Harvester just wrapped up a very exciting year filled with ambitious goals, new partnerships and many inspiring friends helping us along the way.
We are proud to announce that over the last three years, we have organized the food recovery of 81 tons of fresh edible food, sharing it with non-profit agencies in Southern California. This provided 130,000 meals to agencies, saving them over $500,000 in retail food costs to reallocate funds towards supporting social services, job training and housing for clients.
As we enter 2016, we are focused on assembling a talented team to continue innovating our existing food recovery model. Our fundraising efforts hope to bring in outside counsel in the fields of policy, logistics, sustainability, computer science, the food industry and data analytics. This promises to be a productive year and we are very excited to continue moving ahead.
It is with pride and joy we share this year's highlights of Urban Harvester. Wishing you a happy and healthy new year,
Linda Hess
Founder/Executive Director Urban Harvester
Happy New Year! Urban Harvester just wrapped up a very exciting year filled with ambitious goals, new partnerships and many inspiring friends helping us along the way.
We are proud to announce that over the last three years, we have organized the food recovery of 81 tons of fresh edible food, sharing it with non-profit agencies in Southern California. This provided 130,000 meals to agencies, saving them over $500,000 in retail food costs to reallocate funds towards supporting social services, job training and housing for clients.
As we enter 2016, we are focused on assembling a talented team to continue innovating our existing food recovery model. Our fundraising efforts hope to bring in outside counsel in the fields of policy, logistics, sustainability, computer science, the food industry and data analytics. This promises to be a productive year and we are very excited to continue moving ahead.
It is with pride and joy we share this year's highlights of Urban Harvester. Wishing you a happy and healthy new year,
Linda Hess
Founder/Executive Director Urban Harvester
Wells Fargo Awards $50,000 Grant
The Wells Fargo Foundation awarded Urban Harvester a $50,000 community services grant for hunger and food waste reduction.
This generous support from Wells Fargo enables Urban Harvester to bring its successful program from Southern to Northern California. This hopes to positively impact the food insecure residents of the Southern and East Bay Area. |
Joint Venture Silicon Valley
Joint Venture Silicon Valley (JVSV) is partnering with Urban Harvester for a Hunger and Poverty Initiative based on the findings of their 2015 Poverty Report.
JVSV brings together established and emerging leaders from business, government, academia, labor and the broader community to spotlight issues, launch projects and work towards innovative solutions. |
Santa Clara University Partnership Announced
The Santa Clara University School of Engineering's Frugal Innovation Lab is partnering with Urban Harvester as an in- kind donor. We are so thrilled to have been selected for this opportunity.
The Frugal Innovation Lab students are working on their master's degrees in computer science and engineering. We will collaborate with students in building the technology portion of the program. |
Board Member and Treasurer
Alan Ehrlich Appointed Alan Ehrlich joined Urban Harvester's Board of Directors as Treasurer in October 2015 to manage the organization's finances and development projects. Alan began his involvement three years ago, promoting Urban Harvester in the local media and as a volunteer delivering donated food to local agencies.
“Helping people is what motivates me... community service is in my blood. I am honored to have been asked to take on this responsibility as Urban Harvester is expanding its unique solution to sustainability and solving hunger to more communities in Southern and Northern California." Alan Ehrlich, Treasurer ”Alan's background in corporate finance, planning, logistics and operations, have been instrumental to Urban Harvester. He is a tremendous asset to the organization," Linda Hess, Executive Director |
Meet The Grandview Foundation
Since Urban Harvester began connecting food donors to recipient agencies back in 2009, we've seen firsthand how fresh food can improve lives. One of Urban Harvester's food recipient agencies, The Grandview Foundation based in Pasadena, California, receives over $10,000 annually in food donations.
Urban Harvester's impact was expressed in a beautiful letter from Grandview Foundation's Executive Director Lindy Carll, who said their clients "were equally amazed and moved by the fact that all the food was donated, and that there is an organization out there that cares." The Grandview Foundation provides residential recovery services to men who suffer from addiction and were previously incarcerated for nonviolent offenses. Urban Harvester continues to connect weekly food donations to benefit the recovering adults. |
Drucker School of Management
Net Impact Quick Fire Event The Net Impact Group within Claremont College's Drucker Business School invited multiple teams of master's students to support Urban Harvester. The event was an on-the-spot business model
competition to scale Urban Harvester. Among the judges was retired California State Assemblyman Anthony Portantino. "Linda and her team are approaching the needs on both the supply and demand side of the hunger and commercial food waste situations with curiosity, creativity, and strategic thinking. It allowed graduate students to increase their awareness of these issues, and apply business, psychology, economic, and public health skills in real world problem solving in formulating recommendations. We are proud to have contributed.” Jennifer Attwell, 2015 MBA Graduate, Drucker School of Management |
Copyright ©urbanharvester; All rights reserved.
*2015 Annual Newsletter"
www.UrbanHarvester.org
t: (661) 312-1133 501(c)(3) #45-2644599
Our mailing address is:
Urban Harvester
530 S. Lake Ave Suite 785 Pasadena, CA 91101
*2015 Annual Newsletter"
www.UrbanHarvester.org
t: (661) 312-1133 501(c)(3) #45-2644599
Our mailing address is:
Urban Harvester
530 S. Lake Ave Suite 785 Pasadena, CA 91101
