Ample Harvest:

Project PAUL joins Ample Harvest Campaign

Project PAUL, a local food pantry which also offers a number of other services, has joined forces with the Ample Harvest Campaign in an effort to feed hungry families in the Bayshore area.

Ample Harvest is a free directory that helps backyard gardeners find local food pantries so they can donate their excess fruits and vegetables.

“For us it is an opportunity for gardeners in the area to share their abundance of crops, especially this year when we are trying to help a record number of people,” said Lionel Menard, Project PAUL director. “No donation is too small.  Fresh produce is always welcomed and we want to make sure that gardeners can find us and know that we will accept the fruits of their labor.”

Project PAUL provides food for approximately 600 families in the Bayshore area every week, and has seen a significant increase in those needing assistance.

To find a food pantry, gardeners can go to the Ample Harvest web site, www.ampleharvest.org, and click the “Find a Pantry” link. Then, if they know the town the pantry is located in, they can enter the town name or zip code – in the case of Project PAUL that is Keansburg, NJ or 07734. Otherwise, gardeners can enter their home town or zip code and search for pantries within a certain number of miles.

The Ample Harvest Campaign began in May and already has dozens of food pantries listed in its on-line directory.

“With one out of eight American families now relying on pantries to help feed them, the pantries often have a hard time meeting the demand,” Ample Harvest said in a press release on its web site. “At the same time, millions of backyard gardeners across America frequently find that their vegetable and fruit gardens provide far more produce than they can possibly use or share with friends.”

“Gardeners who want to share part of their harvest are often unable to find local pantries because they typically don’t have yellow page listings or an Internet presence.
To address this, the web site enables food pantries to register their name, phone, address, an optional photograph of the pantry to make it easier to find, and day[s] of the week and time of the day they’ll accept the gardeners produce,” the organization added.

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