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Food for people, not for profit.
Our mission: Join us in supporting both local farms and homeless shelters. With the help of your donations, we will be buying fresh produce from local farms to mitigate the food waste crisis and sending it to homeless shelters in the Bay Area to feed the increasing homeless population. We will also be collecting and distributing hygienic products like masks to combat the spread of COVID-19 due to insufficient safety equipment.
What you can do: As a supportive community, we are taking measures to protect those who are at most risk and help them maintain their livelihood. We would greatly appreciate donations to the GoFundMe as each contribution would benefit both local farms and the Bay Area homeless population. In addition, if you have spare hygienic products or are producing masks at home, please contact us and we will gladly arrange a transaction with proper safety measures. Any donation, big or small, could change a person’s life. Thank you for being a part of the positive change in this world!
Why this matters: In the midst of this global pandemic, many small businesses have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy due to a lack of customers. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, 54% of local businesses are already out of business, a number that will only increase as more areas lock down.
Homeless shelters are also struggling to provide adequate food and protection for their residents. People have been moving into homeless shelters at unprecedented rates due to high unemployment. These shelters are currently extremely vulnerable to risks posed by the virus, since high occupancy rates make it difficult to practice proper distancing protocol within the crowded spaces of the shelter, and their lack of healthcare and resources will only exacerbate the problems. A lack of hygienic products increases their exposure to the virus in the confined area of the shelter as they wait to be moved to isolated hotel rooms. According to ABCNews, over 70 people from San Francisco’s largest homeless shelter have contracted COVID-19 as of April 11, making the need for hygienic equipment more important than ever. Additionally, soup kitchens and food banks are unable to accommodate the higher demand for food because of a critical shortage of food donations, leaving many hungry despite the massive amounts of surplus produce from farms.
Compact farms constitute eighty percent of the two million farms in the United States, typically operated by small families. Many of these farms are largely dependent on restaurants for their business; however, with the restaurant industry failing and families unwilling to venture out to local farmers’ markets and roadside food stands, these farms are now in desperate need for both financial support to continue running and a means of getting rid of their extra produce. Instead of distributing excess food to consumers, farmers have now resorted to destroying their fresh produce, contributing to the growing amount of food waste. According to the California Farm Bureau, farms across the nation are losing $1 billion a week in produce sales. Many farms have donated some of their surplus to food banks, but the handling and transportation cost of donating these free goods merely increases their financial strain, disincentivizing their contributions. By paying for produce and transportation, we encourage farmers to continue to supply fresh produce to those who need it the most.
If you would like to donate hygienic products, become an outreach coordinator, or simply have a few questions regarding our plan, feel free to contact us via either of the following addresses:
[email redacted]ker.org
[email redacted]ker.org
Best wishes,
The Grow Good Initiative
Our team (Fonda Hu, Stephanie Shen, Stasios Pantazis, Cynthia Feng, Elaine Zhai, Kelly Lu, Katie Li, Jasmine Lu, Rachana Aluri, Helen Zhu, Pramiti Sankar, Vidya Jeyendran, Julia Biswas, Arohee Bhoja, Helen Li, and Sophie Wang)
Our mission: Join us in supporting both local farms and homeless shelters. With the help of your donations, we will be buying fresh produce from local farms to mitigate the food waste crisis and sending it to homeless shelters in the Bay Area to feed the increasing homeless population. We will also be collecting and distributing hygienic products like masks to combat the spread of COVID-19 due to insufficient safety equipment.
What you can do: As a supportive community, we are taking measures to protect those who are at most risk and help them maintain their livelihood. We would greatly appreciate donations to the GoFundMe as each contribution would benefit both local farms and the Bay Area homeless population. In addition, if you have spare hygienic products or are producing masks at home, please contact us and we will gladly arrange a transaction with proper safety measures. Any donation, big or small, could change a person’s life. Thank you for being a part of the positive change in this world!
Why this matters: In the midst of this global pandemic, many small businesses have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy due to a lack of customers. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, 54% of local businesses are already out of business, a number that will only increase as more areas lock down.
Homeless shelters are also struggling to provide adequate food and protection for their residents. People have been moving into homeless shelters at unprecedented rates due to high unemployment. These shelters are currently extremely vulnerable to risks posed by the virus, since high occupancy rates make it difficult to practice proper distancing protocol within the crowded spaces of the shelter, and their lack of healthcare and resources will only exacerbate the problems. A lack of hygienic products increases their exposure to the virus in the confined area of the shelter as they wait to be moved to isolated hotel rooms. According to ABCNews, over 70 people from San Francisco’s largest homeless shelter have contracted COVID-19 as of April 11, making the need for hygienic equipment more important than ever. Additionally, soup kitchens and food banks are unable to accommodate the higher demand for food because of a critical shortage of food donations, leaving many hungry despite the massive amounts of surplus produce from farms.
Compact farms constitute eighty percent of the two million farms in the United States, typically operated by small families. Many of these farms are largely dependent on restaurants for their business; however, with the restaurant industry failing and families unwilling to venture out to local farmers’ markets and roadside food stands, these farms are now in desperate need for both financial support to continue running and a means of getting rid of their extra produce. Instead of distributing excess food to consumers, farmers have now resorted to destroying their fresh produce, contributing to the growing amount of food waste. According to the California Farm Bureau, farms across the nation are losing $1 billion a week in produce sales. Many farms have donated some of their surplus to food banks, but the handling and transportation cost of donating these free goods merely increases their financial strain, disincentivizing their contributions. By paying for produce and transportation, we encourage farmers to continue to supply fresh produce to those who need it the most.
If you would like to donate hygienic products, become an outreach coordinator, or simply have a few questions regarding our plan, feel free to contact us via either of the following addresses:
[email redacted]ker.org
[email redacted]ker.org
Best wishes,
The Grow Good Initiative
Our team (Fonda Hu, Stephanie Shen, Stasios Pantazis, Cynthia Feng, Elaine Zhai, Kelly Lu, Katie Li, Jasmine Lu, Rachana Aluri, Helen Zhu, Pramiti Sankar, Vidya Jeyendran, Julia Biswas, Arohee Bhoja, Helen Li, and Sophie Wang)
Co-organizers4
Rongxiang Hu
Beneficiary