Meet Steven and Andrew
People come up and they ask, what are you doing? We tell them “We are taking all this fresh food (which would have been discarded) to people who are food insecure and need it.” And they say “Well that's crazy. That's like God's work that you're feeding all these people.” It's not what people expect. They see a humongous bunch of people milling around food in a parking lot. The fact of a pop-up distribution center is probably the furthest thing from their mind.”
The Grassroots Grocery Produce Party is unique. It is a unicorn of an event, an amazing idea, that actually works. If you are a reader of this blog, you may no longer be amazed, but that doesn't change its amazingness. After meeting Steven and Andrew, we think you will be inspired to volunteer yourself. And no time is better than now!
In past blog posts, we told you about the “Produce Party Crew,” a highly organized core group of volunteer leaders. This week we talked to Andrew, 16, one of the Crew, and his father Steven about exactly how it works, and how it got to be that way.
“We got started with a group from our temple”
Andrew: We got started almost 3 years ago, by going with a group from our temple, Westchester Reform Temple.
After my first time at Grassroots Grocery, I gave Dan some feedback. It was at that point that I really thought I could help in a meaningful way. It was still in its infancy, where we were able to shape & create the event with different ideas. Each week, we tried something new.
Steven: The Produce Party was definitely much smaller back then than it is now. Smaller crew, smaller location and not as organized.
Andrew: I thought this was an amazing amount of food. And it was a really cool event. I had never done anything like it or seen anything like it.
“A great community”
Andrew: From the first time I went, I saw it was a great community. It's a full community. It's not just the staff members. It's not just the people who are there for the first time. It's a mix of all kinds of people - a very diverse group. There are grandparents, mothers, fathers, young adults and kids that are volunteering. Besides Dan and the few employees, everyone else there is a volunteer. They're all there because they want to be there.
Over the past year or so, my grandparents have been coming to the produce parties also. It has become a three-generation project, which is very cool to see.
Steven: The parents there had to make plans not only to be there, but in some cases they also had to arrange to get somebody to watch their younger kids. You're included in good discussions ranging from logistics, organization, communication, etc.
“Important life lessons”
Andrew: I learned through Grassroots that there's so much stuff to be done. It has to be divided up. You can't do everything. A lot of important life lessons.
You try and do what you can as best as you can with what you have at the time. You can give and get advice. Sometimes it works, sometimes it won't work. You try out new processes and have to pick your battles.
There's always a different challenge. Let’s say we can't find some things, we have to make do with what we have.
We have to make sure the amount of produce on the truck gets evenly distributed to all the cars. It's much more complicated than you think. If you're off by only a few–there’s usually 38-ish loads–you can be off by five boxes and it doesn't work.
But we always make it work, which is really cool. Then it’s done. You can look around the parking lot and you can see everything cleaned up. All the food's out. And it doesn't even look like it happened.
They are making a movement, they are making a change
Andrew: One of the things I really love about Grassroots is that there is a group of core volunteers that are there every week and work together. We’re able to make improvements over the weeks and years, even small improvements. It really adds up.
Having a pit boss is new (a designated leader for a group of loaders and drivers), having a specific pallet set up for each car is new, having a merchandise space is new. The merch, and the tech and backend have gotten much better. Even now, we are continuously evolving and incorporating good ideas every week.
“ It’s driven by something other than money. It’s about solving the problem.”
“Food insecurity is a terrible thing but I can do something to help”
Steven: It's good to see something that’s driven by something other than money. I don't think Dan looks at it like a commercial business. I think he's really driven by the problem, by solving the problem. I've known people in dot-com businesses where you're working at a loss until you get your VC funding, go public in the boom and only then you'll profit. But in this case, people have been eating this food since Day One. So it's a very different organizational model that Dan understands and lives that I don't think other people understand.
Andrew: It’s because all these people really care about making a difference. That's why we are all there. The core volunteers are there three plus hours on Saturday mornings, every single week. On an average Saturday morning, we unload a full truck, sort the produce, and deliver about 11,000 pounds of fresh food that would have been thrown out (or composted).
“I'm part of Grassroots Grocery”
Andrew: I very much feel that I'm part of Grassroots, contributing to the organization, being there as it grows, watching it grow, helping it grow. I'm participating in that growth, giving suggestions, acting on suggestions. To me, it's amazing to look back almost three years, and see the difference we have made.
When I started, there was only a small group of volunteers and we had to do everything - set up, organize, figure out logistics, sort the produce, clean up, etc. Dan was just renting a truck at that point. Now, he has his own refrigerated truck. I’ve been at Grassroots in the winter when it was super cold. I’ve also been there in the summer when it was 90 degrees. Overall, I enjoy being a part of Grassroots Grocery any time of the year.
Another good thing about Grassroots Grocery is that volunteers can come on a Saturday morning and spend just two to three hours in the morning and feel good that they have made a difference. They still have the rest of the day to do whatever they want.
