McLean Philanthropist’s Donation Means Respite from Produce Fee
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, August 25th, 2011
Thanks to McLean philanthropist William E. Conway Jr. of the Carlyle Group, area food pantries will cease paying a 10 -cent-per-pound fee on fresh produce. Hundreds of pantries and non-profit organizations had begun paying the fee July 1 to the Capital Area Food Bank, the region’s primary supplier of food for the poor. CAFB was forced to introduce the fee in order to cover its own skyrocketing transportation and food costs.
The $1 million gift was announced on Tuesday at the construction site of CAFB’s 4900 Puerto Rico Avenue facility, a project that Conway jump-started with a previous donation of $5 million.”[Fresh produce] is a luxury for some people,” Conway told the Washington Post. “I wanted to try to help.”
Fresh fruits and vegetables account for 46%, or greater than 13 million pounds, of the 30 million pounds of food distributed by the Capital Area Food Bank this fiscal year.
Conway’s latest donation will not only buy food pantries a year without the produce fee; it is also enough to reimburse all produce fees paid since July 1. In the meantime, area pantries will continue to look for creative solutions to reduce costs associated with the provision of fresh fruits and vegetables.
And speaking of other solutions, you can help Food for Others feed more Northern Virginians by volunteering for the Harvest for the Hungry Project. Volunteers will harvest crops from the USDA Agricultural Research Center’s 3,000-acre farm in Beltsville, MD, which are then transported to a warehouse for distribution. Both children and adults are welcome. The project is still seeking volunteers for the upcoming dates:
- Sunday, August 28
- Wednesday, August 31
- Wednesday, September 7
- Wednesday, September 14
- Wednesday, September 28
- Wednesday, October 5
- Wednesday, October 12
To register for one of the above dates, email harvest@foodforothers.org. For additional information, click here.
Food for Others
2938 Prosperity Avenue
Fairfax, VA 22031
(703) 207-9173
-Johnisha M. Levi
Tags: Capital Area Food Bank, cost of fresh produce, food banks, Food for Others, food insecurity, Gut Check, Harvest for the Hungry, Johnisha M. Levi, McLean, Northern Virginia, Northern Virginia Magazine, NoVA, philanthropy in Northern Virginia, produce fee, The Carlyle Group, volunteer opportunities, William E. Conway Jr.