For Immediate Release January 6, 2016
Urban Harvester receives $50,000 grant
from Wells Fargo to help reduce hunger in Bay Area
Urban Harvester announced today that it received a $50,000 grant from Wells Fargo to help reduce hunger while reducing organic food waste in the Greater Bay area. The grant will enable Urban Harvester to bring its model program of rescuing fresh food to the Bay Area and positively impact the 829,547 people or 11.3% of the region’s population of residents who are living in Poverty.
Urban Harvester’s model, initiated in Southern California, provides sustainable access to rescued fresh nutritious food for individuals and families often having to choose between keeping a roof over their heads or food on the table struggling to accomplish both. Participating Bay Area social service agencies will be able to reduce and redirect scarce funding resources from the purchases of fresh food toward other essential life sustaining services.
“As part of Wells Fargo’s broad environmental commitment and serving the communities where we operate, we are proud to support the Urban Harvester program because its innovative model will go a long way into helping address hunger and excess food waste in our communities, ” said Eric Houser, Executive Vice President of Technology Banking Group at Wells Fargo.
Urban Harvester is working in partnership with Joint Venture Silicon Valley on a hunger and waste reduction initiative based on JVSV's State of the Valley 2015 Poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area research brief.
"This initiative shows again how Joint Venture is able to convene the region's leaders to tackle our most pressing challenges,” said Russell Hancock, President and CEO of Joint Venture. "We’re grateful Wells Fargo sees the power of the model, and we're so glad we're able to amplify the impact of Urban Harvester.”
Linda Hess, president of Urban Harvester said, “This generous support from Wells Fargo and our partnership with JVSV allows us to bring Urban Harvester's food rescue and sustainability solutions from Southern California to Northern California to positively impact the residents of the southern and eastern bay areas. We are thrilled to have the support of both of these highly respected organizations. “
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.8 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through 8,700 locations, 12,800 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 36 countries to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 30 on Fortune’s 2015 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at Wells Fargo Blogs and Wells Fargo Stories.
About Joint Venture Silicon Valley
Established in 1993, Joint Venture Silicon Valley is a nonprofit organization that provides analysis and action on issues affecting our region’s economy and quality of life. Joint Venture is nonpartisan and politically neutral. It does not lobby or advocate for political candidates or ballot measures. The organization brings together established and emerging leaders from business, government, academia, labor and the broader community to spotlight issues and work toward innovative solutions. Since 1995, JVSV has published the Silicon Valley Index, a detailed report that measures the strength of our economy and the health of our community, highlighting challenges and providing an analytical foundation for leadership and decision making.
About Urban Harvester Urban Harvester is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation founded in 2012. Since 2009, Urban Harvester has worked across Southern California to come up with sustainable solutions to minimize food waste. We help local food producers and food retailers have connected with social service agencies to keep fresh food from entering the waste stream and instead redirecting it to help feed the food insecure.
Media Inquiries:
Wells Fargo: Edith Robles p: 415.613.9119 e: [email protected]
Joint Venture Silicon Valley: Duffy Jennings p: 408 896-6900 [email protected]
Urban Harvester: Linda Hess p: 661 312-1133 [email protected]
Photo credit to: Kelsey Hess
*Bay area data provided by the Joint Venture Silicon Valley ; 2015 Greater Bay area Poverty Report.
Urban Harvester’s model, initiated in Southern California, provides sustainable access to rescued fresh nutritious food for individuals and families often having to choose between keeping a roof over their heads or food on the table struggling to accomplish both. Participating Bay Area social service agencies will be able to reduce and redirect scarce funding resources from the purchases of fresh food toward other essential life sustaining services.
“As part of Wells Fargo’s broad environmental commitment and serving the communities where we operate, we are proud to support the Urban Harvester program because its innovative model will go a long way into helping address hunger and excess food waste in our communities, ” said Eric Houser, Executive Vice President of Technology Banking Group at Wells Fargo.
Urban Harvester is working in partnership with Joint Venture Silicon Valley on a hunger and waste reduction initiative based on JVSV's State of the Valley 2015 Poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area research brief.
"This initiative shows again how Joint Venture is able to convene the region's leaders to tackle our most pressing challenges,” said Russell Hancock, President and CEO of Joint Venture. "We’re grateful Wells Fargo sees the power of the model, and we're so glad we're able to amplify the impact of Urban Harvester.”
Linda Hess, president of Urban Harvester said, “This generous support from Wells Fargo and our partnership with JVSV allows us to bring Urban Harvester's food rescue and sustainability solutions from Southern California to Northern California to positively impact the residents of the southern and eastern bay areas. We are thrilled to have the support of both of these highly respected organizations. “
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.8 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through 8,700 locations, 12,800 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 36 countries to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 30 on Fortune’s 2015 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at Wells Fargo Blogs and Wells Fargo Stories.
About Joint Venture Silicon Valley
Established in 1993, Joint Venture Silicon Valley is a nonprofit organization that provides analysis and action on issues affecting our region’s economy and quality of life. Joint Venture is nonpartisan and politically neutral. It does not lobby or advocate for political candidates or ballot measures. The organization brings together established and emerging leaders from business, government, academia, labor and the broader community to spotlight issues and work toward innovative solutions. Since 1995, JVSV has published the Silicon Valley Index, a detailed report that measures the strength of our economy and the health of our community, highlighting challenges and providing an analytical foundation for leadership and decision making.
About Urban Harvester Urban Harvester is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation founded in 2012. Since 2009, Urban Harvester has worked across Southern California to come up with sustainable solutions to minimize food waste. We help local food producers and food retailers have connected with social service agencies to keep fresh food from entering the waste stream and instead redirecting it to help feed the food insecure.
Media Inquiries:
Wells Fargo: Edith Robles p: 415.613.9119 e: [email protected]
Joint Venture Silicon Valley: Duffy Jennings p: 408 896-6900 [email protected]
Urban Harvester: Linda Hess p: 661 312-1133 [email protected]
Photo credit to: Kelsey Hess
*Bay area data provided by the Joint Venture Silicon Valley ; 2015 Greater Bay area Poverty Report.