We harvested a whopping 8,000 pounds (4 tons) of tomatoes at our America’s Grow A Row Harvest Mitzvah Day! Among those participating in doing this mitzvah were Assia Moran; Susan Neigher; Lois, Lee and Sylas (age three) Dornfeld; Ulla Youry; Ilene Dorf Manahan; Alan and Melanie Levitan; Helen Jacobson; Tanya Simon and Vince Asciano (Temple B’nai Or); Jamie and Jim Dunn (Temple B’nai Or); and Sandy Ross (Temple B’nai Or).
Grow a Row grows 1.2 million pounds of food a year, 500,000 of which goes to the Community Food Bank of NJ. The rest goes to free farmers markets, food pantries not only in New Jersey, but in New York and Pennsylvania as well.
One in five children in New Jersey are food insecure, meaning they do not know where there next meal is coming from. Fresh fruits and vegetables are particularly scarce and there are many children served by Grow a Row who have never seen or heard of a peach or a nectarine. Grow a Row is bringing fresh product to food pantries that have only had boxed or canned food in the past and also teaching kids and parents about eating healthy.
