Each month Abundance is highlighting a local non-profit that benefits our community, collecting funds for that project through donations made both at our registers (Round Up*) and online (Paypal) via our website, email communications, and social media channels. For the month of July, the co-op will be supporting Flower City Pickers!
Flower City Pickers supports the local community with free food through the recovery and redistribution of safe but otherwise landfill-bound food. Their dedicated and hardworking volunteers attend the City of Rochester Public Market on regular shopping days, year-round, to collect several tons of surplus produce donated by generous vendors and recover food that might otherwise end up landfilled.
Bookmark this page to keep up to date with how much we collect as a store, and contribute to this awesome program!
*Round Up is a program where shoppers can donate, or Round UP, to the cause of the month at the register when they are checking out with their groceries. This is done in the store. This year we started developing web pages for our collection drives and collecting money online for those various endeavors. We track all the money we make, and one hundred percent of the money is given to the charity/cause. Abundance shoppers and shareholders have been giving back to the community by rounding up their purchase totals since 2014!
Get to know Flower City Pickers
July 2021 Recipient: Flower City Pickers
Flower City Pickers’ mission is to support the local community with free food through the recovery and redistribution of safe but otherwise landfill-bound food.
By enriching other hunger relief agencies and local farms, Flower City Pickers strives to establish and grow a platform for waste prevention and civic engagement.
Since our start, we have recovered and redistributed one million pounds of food, keeping it in our neighbors’ hands and bellies instead of the landfill.
Flower City Pickers
OUR IMPACT
Flower City Pickers believes that food waste is not just a problem. It is also a resource, just like any other, that can benefit the common good when effectively and ethically managed. This belief is why, beginning in October of 2015, we began weighing and cataloging every box of food we have processed during our volunteer-driven food rescues on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. By quickly and deliberately redirecting food waste that would typically be an added cost to the overall food economy, we create cost savings opportunities for organizations across Rochester that work to reinforce the social safety net in an environmentally and financially responsible way.
SUPPORTING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY WITH FREE FOOD THROUGH THE RECOVERY AND DISTRIBUTION OF SAFE, BUT OTHERWISE LANDFILL-BOUND FOOD.
You can find us at the City of Rochester Public Market on Saturdays from 1:30pm to 4:30pm (times may vary). We are located nearest the Pennsylvania Street entrance.
Seasonal dates/times may vary.
WHAT WE DO
Flower City Pickers supports the local community with free food through the recovery and redistribution of safe but otherwise landfill-bound food.
Our dedicated and hardworking volunteers attend the City of Rochester Public Market on regular shopping days, year-round, to collect several tons of surplus produce donated by generous vendors and recover food that might otherwise end up landfilled.
Volunteers then sort the food into three different food grades:
1. A (Astonishing)
Grade A is distributed to homeless shelters and organizations who need produce with a longer shelf life.
2. L (Livestock)
Grade L is picked up by local farmers to help feed their livestock.
3. C (Compost)
Grade C is composted.
Image by: Flower City Pickers
Photo Credit: Flower City Pickers
Photo Credit: Flower City Pickers
Photo Credit: Flower City Pickers
Photo Credit: Flower City Pickers