Fresh Food Initiative: Donate Fresh Fruit and Produce

Fresh produce is one of the most frequently requested items by our member programs and moves quickly out of our facilities. Fresh produce represents the highest volume, lowest cost, and most nutritious potential food source for fighting hunger.

By working with famers and growers across our 23 parish service area, Second Harvest Food Bank seeks to grow our opportunities to source local grown produce.

There are many benefits to donating your excess, unmarketable or unsaleable products.

•      Free product pickup with refrigerated equipment
•      Receipts for potential tax deductions
•      Reduction of costs associated with storage, transportation and disposal
•      Waste minimization and assistance with sustainability

Whether you’re a large scale farmer or a backyard grower, Second Harvest has a variety of ways to accept fresh produce. Contact Director of Food Sourcing at jkelston@no-hunger.org or at 504-729-6338 for more information.

Orchard Gleaning

Second Harvest Food Bank can provide supervised volunteer groups for gleaning of fields and orchards both mid-season and after commercial harvests. Second Harvest provides all materials, including boxes and packing supplies and transportation of produce following the event. Second Harvest has full liability insurance to cover our volunteers at all off-site events.

Dedicated Planting