ProduceGood Surpasses One Million Pounds of Fresh Food Recovered

Photo by Charlie Neuman / The San Diego Union-Tribune

We are thrilled to celebrate with the San Diego based food recovery nonprofit, ProduceGood, their million-pound milestone on Saturday, March 26th through their annual Spring Gleaning event at Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa. This one million pounds of produce has been donated by over 600 local farmers and growers with gleaning and collection provided by thousands of volunteers to benefit over 70 feeding partners in San Diego County, all to reduce food waste and hunger while building community.

GelatoLove and ProduceGood have partnered for 3 years now to present ProduceLove, a special gelato line that uses recovered fruit from San Diego orchards to create delicious desserts that will be offered at the Rancho Valencia event. GelatoLove Crema al Limone (Lemon Custard) and the dairy free Lemon and Strawberry Lemonade Sorbets are made from fruits gleaned by Produce Good. They will also be available for purchase both at the Carlsbad Village GelatoLove Store and online for next day delivery starting in April 2022.

 “Because the Rancho Valencia resort has partnered with ProduceGood for the last three years to recover citrus from the property to feed people, we felt that this was the perfect place to celebrate our achievement on behalf of the community we serve,” says Nita Kurmins Gilson, Co-Executive Director of ProduceGood.

“We are often not able to use all the citrus from our trees and instead of letting it fall to the ground, Rancho Valencia partners with ProduceGood to do our part to combat food waste and food insecurity in the County,” says Simon Harris, Food & Beverage Director at Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa. ”As a luxury resort, in the heart of San Diego, it is important for us to be able to give back to the community.”

 With initial food recovery activities launched by Kurmins Gilson in 2010 as CropSwap Carlsbad, Nita joined forces with Mother/Daughter Team Jerilyn and Alexandra White to incorporate as ProduceGood in 2014. In eight short years, the nonprofit has become a vital part of San Diego’s food recovery system, using their decentralized model to prevent massive food waste and to empower communities to feed themselves.

“40% of all food is wasted, while 1 in 3 San Diegans struggles with food insecurity, a number that has doubled since 2020,” says Alexandra White, Co-Executive Director of ProduceGood. “We glean the excess produce and provide direct access to these nutritious fruits and veggies that would otherwise go to waste, to those who need it most.”

This small but mighty homegrown nonprofit has diverted 500 tons of perfectly edible produce from the landfill since 2010. According to the San Diego Hunger Coalition, as of November 2021, more than one million people in San Diego County are facing hunger, including over 284,000 children. ProduceGood has provided over 3 million servings of fresh produce to these individuals. Thanks a million, ProduceGood!

ABOUT PRODUCE GOOD

ProduceGood is a non-profit founded in 2014 by Nita Kurmins Gilson, Alexandra White and Jerilyn White, three local women looking to reduce waste and hunger by connecting surplus produce to food insecurity in San Diego County. To accomplish this work, we engage local volunteers to harvest excess produce in backyards, on farms and at farmers markets to benefit over 70 local feeding partners who serve food-insecure individuals in our county. Our mission is to build an informed and engaged community committed to finding sustainable solutions to alleviate hunger, reclaim and repurpose waste and promote the health and well-being of all. To learn more, please visit producegood.org.