Help us feed refugees from Ukraine

That’s right, 20 metric tons (or 40,000 lbs), now you understand why we go through 118 gloves a week…

But seriously, since February 24th, our steadily growing team of Ukrainians and Moldovans has been packing, transporting and distributing food to those who need it, mostly refugees, but also local host families. Since the agricultural season is in full swing, starting this week, we can afford to increase the fresh fruit and vegetable content by about 50%, bringing our weekly parcels up to 9 kg (20 pounds), which is the limit of our sacks.

We actually get lots of feedback from beneficiaries who really appreciate how much fresh stuff we include, how we diversify the ingredients from week to week, and that we’re not giving out packaged or processed or single servings like the other guys. And there’s a good reason why they don’t, it’s a LOT of work, sourcing from so many small growers, hand packing thousands of portions every day, and managing a perishable inventory (pulled from the ground, cut from a vine or plucked from a tree, then on someone’s kitchen table within 24 hours, a true “farm to fork” business model).

And since we’ve developed somewhat of a reputation, one of the large relief organizations approached us earlier this month, about scaling up our operation and signing a contract for a year or two. Their team really appreciated how we engage our beneficiaries, ask for and adapt to feedback, bringing our services to them, all while supporting the local economy. Unfortunately, this potential partner is extremely formal, and among other things, would need lab analysis for each batch, product and farmer, which we calculated to be 75-100 samples PER WEEK. We laughed at the thought (and cost) of hiring a team of whitecoats to poke our innocent tomatoes…

Anyway, that’s why nobody feeds refugees the way we do, either their aversion to risk is stronger than ours, or they prioritize cheaper calories. And it’s thanks to GlobalGiving and individual donors like you, that we can move fast, be flexible and focus on quality. You’re supporting not just thousands of refugees every week, but providing fair incomes to dozens of farm families as well as our team of 29 Ukrainians and Moldovans.

And with that, I’ll close with a personal story.

My brain was tickled when someone forgot to mop the floor last month, because it brought back memories of a high school job, cleaning an industrial building at night, after hours. For those of you who know me, I rarely buy anything new, preferring to fix it or find someone who remembers how. Fortunately, I found a guy who brings broken kitchen equipment from Europe, puts it back on track, and gives a six-month warranty with a handshake. Below you’ll see a photo of me “test driving” the model we ended up buying, never would have imagined I’d come full circle, the proud owner an industrial floor scrubber…

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