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.

PRODUCELOVE: A sweet way to celebrate Earth Day (all month long)!

The ‘ProduceLove’ Team in Action! (photo by Tomoko Matsubayashi).

GelatoLove and ProduceGood have partnered again to present ProduceLove, a new gelato line that uses recovered fruit from San Diego orchards to create a special dessert for Earth Month. Both GelatoLove Crema al Limone (Lemon Custard) and the dairy free Lemon Sorbet are made from fruits gleaned by Produce Good and private donors (Walton Organic Lemon Farm and Pete Anderson). They will be available for purchase both at the Carlsbad Village GelatoLove Store and online for next day delivery. The proceeds from this special Gelato Sale, will benefit ProduceGood gleaning programs, which rescue 10 tons of edible produce a month to feed the hungry. When 40% of all food is wasted and 1 in 3 San Diegans is food insecure, buying some ProduceLove gelato is a sweet way to help people and our planet! 

ProduceGood, a non-profit that reduces waste and hunger by connecting surplus produce to food insecurity in San Diego County. “San Diego may be one of the most desirable places to live on Earth, but something’s not completely right when 1 in 3 people are food insecure and 40% of all food goes to waste”, said Nita Kurmins Gilson, Co-Executive Director of ProduceGood. “Every day we recover 650 pounds of fruits and veggies from local farms, orchards and farmers markets that would otherwise go to waste and we deliver that to local feeding agencies. I love the idea of turning our citrus into a special gelato that will also benefit the community. The proceeds raised during this Earth Month will allow us to serve even more people.”

Today ProduceGood has expanded to over 2,500 volunteers, who have harvested over 805,000 pounds of fruit from over 350 growers in North San Diego County. The latest program, Market Share, gives the opportunity to recover unsold produce from weekly Farmers Markets, delivering the bounty to local food pantries.  

GelatoLove is a gelato venture that provides a healthier choice of high-quality Italian artisan gelato made with only the best natural ingredients.

“I am so inspired by the work ProduceGood does for the San Diego community, which is why I am thrilled to be partnering with them again to help give back to our environment and create a new tasty gelato for the public to enjoy,” said Paola Richard, CEO and Founder of GelatoLove. “We hope the community can join us by ordering online (www.gelato.love) and visiting our store in Carlsbad Village to celebrate the partnership, give back to ProduceGood and have some yummy gelato on a beautiful spring day.” 

GelatoLove is the first gelato maker in the world to make a low sugar gelato made with a revolutionary ingredient, allulose—a non-GMO, FDA approved and rare low-calorie natural sugar that tastes just like the sugar you already know and love. Allulose is found in fruits like figs and kiwis and won’t lead to a sugar crash. GelatoLove also uses all natural ingredients like the best quality non-treated California milk and cream, a supreme cacao and cocoa butter, exquisite nuts, and fragrant coffee beans. GelatoLove contains half the fat and 80% less calories compared to regular ice cream, which makes it a healthy alternative to satisfy your sweet tooth. All recipes are gluten free and vegan options are available. 

HOW TO SUPPORT PRODUCELOVE EARTH MONTH PROJECT

Donate online to ProduceGood or become a volunteer https://producegood.org

GelatoLove craft gelato made with ProduceGood recovered citrus is now available:

GelatoLove Store – 300 Carlsbad Village Dr Ste 104, Carlsbad CA 92008

Online Store for next day doorstep delivery https://www.gelato.love/shop-gelato

Thank you for the amazing Organic Lemons to:

• ProduceGood

• Walton Organic Lemon Farm, San Marcos

• Pete Anderson, Carlsbad