Local students from Brown University have come together to help farmers connect with local food banks during this pandemic. Farmers have been struggling with excess food during this time.
Doing Good: Students helping farmers send food waste to charities
Fox News explains that FarmLink is a grassroots program run by two students from Brown University. They help pay farmers while routing their excess food to charitable organizations. The program started in April and includes a team of 20 students and recent graduates. They come from the University of Southern California, Dartmouth College, Stanford University, the Harvard School of Business, and Cornell University. They also work with a group of volunteers.
The group has distributed over 239,000 pounds of food from farmers to food banks. Moreover, they have paid over $4,000 in wages. Farmers have grown accustomed to supplying schools and restaurants with their food, but the pandemic left them with cancelled orders and a surplus of product. Farmers were forced to waste millions of pounds of food.
FarmLink hoping to move 4 million pounds of waste by the end of summer
FarmLink continues to help reduce food waste. The food is distributed to several food bank partners. The group made their first delivery in April, which included 50,000 pounds of onions from a local farmer in Oregon. FarmLink has operated in Idaho, Oregon, Utah, California, North Carolina, and Virginia. They hope to eventually operate in Texas, Wyoming, New York, Michigan and the North East. They hope to distribute 5 million pounds of waste by the end of the summer. This current health crisis seems to signal that they may exceed their goal well into the fall.
This group has chosen to do good in a time when things are hard for many people. Taking the time to help your fellow man can make a big difference in their lives. Do good…it’s in you!
