Grimmway donates truckloads of carrots during pandemic
Grimmway Farms, Bakersfield, Calif., has donated baby carrot snack packs to health care workers and baby and whole carrots to food banks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In early April, Grimmway President Jeff Huckaby delivered the carrot snacks to six Bakersfield hospitals: Memorial Hospital Adventist Health, Bakersfield Heart Hospital, Kern Medical and the two Mercy Hospitals, and numerous clinics, according to a news release.
Pop-up grocery stores on the campuses of Memorial Hospital, Mercy and Adventist Health also received donations, allowing staff to stock up on food and household items without trips to stores.
Twice a week, Grimmway is sending baby and whole carrots to the Community Action Partnership of Kern Food Bank, and plans to deliver truckloads of produce to Fresno, Oakland, Fairfield, Sacramento and San Francisco in mid-April through the California Association of Food Banks’ Farm to Family Program.
“Thank you, Jeff Huckaby and Grimmway Farms for your immediate response to a plea to help California food banks meet the significant increase in demand,” said Karen Ross, California agriculture secretary, according to the release.
“Grimmway is uniquely positioned to provide produce to families and frontline workers during this challenging time and we’re working with state and local organizations to ensure fresh food is available to those in need,” Huckaby said in the release. “We’re all working toward a common goal to keep our communities safe and we’re committed to seeing this through together.”
Grimmway is encouraging companies with excess produce to contact the California Association of Food Bank’s Kate Haefke at 510-350-9907 or kathryn@cafoodbans.org.
To learn about other charitable donations from the industry during the crisis, see The Packer's COVID-19 landing page.
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