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The Dialysis Food Foundation of South Florida
MIAMI, FLORIDA (Miami Herald) - Without Farm Share, says Loretta deVries, founder of The Dialysis Food Foundation of South Florida, her organization would have had to “close its doors.”
Farm Share is a local food bank that recovers surplus produce from farmers in Florida, Georgia and South America for donation to more than 600 soup kitchens and food pantries statewide.
The produce that is donated to Farm Share is often food that otherwise would be plowed under in farms or taken to landfills because of cosmetic imperfections or market conditions.
Farm Share also picks up juices from Central Florida and administers a commodities program, called The Emergency Food Assistance Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for canned, dry and frozen foods.
The Dialysis Food Foundation is one of the newest organizations to benefit from Farm Share’s services. deVries’ organization donates nonperishable and nutritionally-balanced food to 270 medically indigent, disabled dialysis patients every week. But deVries said the foundation is currently $26,000 in the red after losing many of its funding sources.
“Without our service, the patients’ mortality rate would be much lower because if they don’t have the proper nutrition and don’t get food, they can’t survive the treatment,” deVries said. “Farm Share has been a lifesaver for us.”
Farm Share has also been experiencing financial difficulties after the state cut $750,000 in funding last year.
“The more dollars we have, the more pounds of food we can recover,” said Patricia Robbins, chairman of Farm Share’s board of directors. “We saw our pounds of food drop from 18 million in 2010-2011 to 11 million in 2011-2012 because of the decrease in funding.”
But in the last month, not only has the nonprofit organization’s state funding been reinstated, but it also received a $20,000 grant from the Monsanto Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Monsanto Co. which sells agricultural products.
“They’re helping farmers and we work with farmers,” said Mia DeVane, Farm Share’s director of communications and development.
Farm Share will use the grant to help fund transportation costs. The organization picks up food from donors such as farmers, wholesalers and packing houses and transports it back to one of Farm Share’s packing houses in Homestead, Pompano Beach or Quincy, in northern Florida. Farm Share also delivers food to some agencies that have trouble arranging transportation.
“The majority of our budget is spent on trucking,” said Jinny Botwin, Farm Share’s operations manager.
Farm Share does not charge any of its participating community organizations.
“No one pays anything at Farm Share,” Robbins said. “We serve the poorest of the poor so we want to be sure that everyone has access to fresh produce.”
In Miami-Dade County alone, Farm Share serves about 300 social service agencies, providing food to more than 454,000 low-income households, DeVane said. In the last year, Farm Share says, the organization has donated 7.3 million pounds of food, valued at about $12.8 million, in Miami-Dade County alone.
Copyright 2013 Miami Herald
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Updated 290 days ago Article ID# 1705090
The Dialysis Food Foundation of South Florida
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