Heartbroken To See Food Go To Waste, Washington Man Devised A Way To Put Crops Into Food Banks

• George Ahearn wanted to help the farmers in the rural areas of Washington state who were also affected by the pandemic.
• So he took it to Facebook and asked to borrow a trailer or a truck so he could rescue tons of food from going to waste.
• The feedback was overwhelming and soon enough, he has started a nonprofit organization that transports food from the east to the food banks in the west to feed people in need.

---

As soon as George Ahearn heard of the news that Washington farmers were unable to sell their produce and were giving away onions and potatoes, in sheer kindness, he acted quickly to rescue tons of vegetables in danger of going to waste.

In the rural areas of Washington state, farmers were facing the hard choice of leaving their produce to rot after COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the delivery of crops from the farms to restaurants and customers — and if they were unable to get them into food banks in Seattle, there would be really no other option.

That’s when George stepped in to help. He took it on Facebook and asked for someone to lend him a truck or trailer for one day. It was to be used hauling about 2,000 pounds of great quality potatoes and onions. 

Unexpectedly, the response to his crowdsourcing was quite dramatic. Soon enough, there were 4 trucks and 2 trailers that volunteered to haul 9.3 tons of farm produce from the east transported to the west to feed people suffering hunger.

After that, his kindness never ceased and it gave birth to the nonprofit organization now called EastWest Food Rescue. Since then, they have saved more than 2.4 million pounds of food from the farms, and donations have also poured in to pay the farmers and compensate for their losses. 

“The whole thing started because of COVID,” Nancy Balin, one of the first volunteers to heed George’s request for help, told Seattle Times. She is not the president and manages the group’s philanthropic activities.

“They immediately lost all the restaurant contracts they had for these quality potatoes and onions. And since European countries were shut down, they weren’t exporting them because their restaurants were closed.”

George has got wonderful people to help him with the cause. Aside from Nancy who lent her trucks, there is Zsofia Pasztor, who donated crates and boxes for. Then there are also other volunteers that lend their hands unselfishly. 

“The whole thing was extremely organic and took on a life of its own almost immediately,” said Nancy.

Their goal is to save 10 million pounds of crops for which they work hard to raise $250,000. They also need high capacity refrigeration for the fruits and dairy products. 

George admitted that he initially planned to cease operation at some point but after the first one, they couldn’t stop anymore. What a big heart! Salute!

Source: Good News Network