Boston Area Gleaners, Inc.

Harvesting against Hunger

2011 Annual Report

M
Board of Directors
Scott A. Clarke Myriel Eykamp Josh Hetrick Secretary/Clerk Helene Newberg, Esq. Treasurer Candice Oyer Oakes Plimpton President Sheri Siegel, DVM Patience Terry Staff Laurie Duck Caldwell

ission: We are a non-profit dedicated to rescuing surplus farm crops and delivering them to food pantries and shelters. While the world economy continued to wane in 2011, local response to food inequities continued its upward trend, and the Boston Area Gleaners (BAG) experienced increased attention and requests for collaboration as a result. This ultimately benefited our primary stakeholders the people who receive the field produce that our volunteers rescue but the organization benefited greatly as well, as it became clear that gleaning was beginning to be taken seriously as an idea and activity contributing to efforts to secure long-term, viable local food sources. This makes sense in an era when more and more resources are being captured from the waste stream and reallocated, redistributed, and recycled. Excess produce that farmers cannot afford to harvest is being added to that mix, and, with the right systems in place, can be harnessed for those in need, as BAG has successfully demonstrated since 2004. On a statewide level, Commissioner Scott Soares of the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture established the Massachusetts Gleaning Network in the fall. BAG served in a pro-bono advisory role to assist MDAR in successfully setting up this network of gleaning groups, and BAG will continue in this role in 2012. In addition, an enthusiastic Governor Deval Patrick joined us on October 24 to glean carrots at the Food Project in Lincoln. He officially proclaimed that day Food Day, and the proclamation (of which he gave BAG a signed copy) stated that, in part, the Commonwealth strives to promote locally grown food and aims to enhance access to healthy foods grown in the state, while protecting land and water resources essential to sustain local food production. The Board of Directors and Staff at BAG are thrilled to be at the forefront of this new movement. This could not have been accomplished without the generosity of our partner farmers, our hard working volunteers, and our member donors, for none of this work could have gotten done without funding. As we look forward to another strong year of gleaning in 2012, please join me in celebrating the 2011 successes outlined below.

Gleaning and Food Rescue Our primary activity remained farm gleaning, and we bested our 2010 total by 14.25%, weighing in at 43,916 pounds, a volume representing approximately 1,333 bushels. Under our auspices and the leadership of founder Oakes Plimpton, our two other ancillary rescue programs included the Arlington Seconds Market (which collected 11,205 pounds of leftover produce at the Arlington Farmers Market over the summer, and redistributed it to residents of a subsidized housing complex in Arlington and to our dedicated pantries) and a small retail gleaning effort to rescue Trader Joes expired items, which totaled 42,745 pounds throughout the year which goes to Salvation Army in Waltham. Recipients Of the farm gleaning total, Food For Free received more than half, at 26,756 pounds, which they then delivered to 82 food programs weekly. The remaining poundage went to 16 other agencies, 9 of which were
240 Beaver Street Waltham, MA 02452 7818943212 E-mail: volunteer@bostonareagleaners.org Web: www.bostonareagleaners.org

non-duplicating of Food For Frees recipients, for a total of 91 recipient programs. Foremost were our four dedicated pantries of 2011: Medford Community Cupboard (5,790 lbs), Lexington Food Pantry (1,451 lbs), Belmont Food Pantry (1,230 lbs), and the Salvation Army Waltham (320). These dedicated recipients received regular (in so far as gleaning allows) deliveries, and paid a fee based on volume, as did Food For Free. In many cases, the produce that BAG delivered was the only produce these programs were able to afford. Remaining recipients included: AME pantry of Cambridge, Arlington Public Housing, CASPAR, CEOC, Germaine Lawrence, Haley House, Helping Hand, Loaves and Fishes, Middlesex Human Services, Pine Street Inn, Rosies Place, Salvation Army Waltham, and St. Francis House. Farms and Food Our relationship with many generous farmers is our greatest asset, and it was again due to their consideration, patience, and foresight that we were able to accomplish our work. Fourteen farms participated in our gleaning program in 2011. They are, in order of poundage, Dicks Market Garden (12,251), Kimball Fruit Farm (8,475), Food Project (7,957), Nicewicz Orchard (5,050), Brighams Farm (2,460), Gore Place (2,252), Fran Busa Farm (2,010), Waltham Field Community Farm (1,529), Morraine Farm (570), Brox Farm (420), Verrill Farm (392), Parker Farm (300), Drumlin Farm (170), and Dennis Busa Farm (80). These farms donated a large variety of produce, including (in pounds): apples and peaches (13,783), winter squash (10,046), kales and collards (4,716), root crops (3,420), corn (1,200), tomatoes and summer squash (2,275), sweet peppers (945), and other veggies (less than 1K pounds each), including Brussels sprouts, celery, broccoli, peas, green beans, cucumbers, eggplants, and hot peppers. Interns and Volunteers BAG conducted 82 gleaning trips in 2011, with 267 volunteers, a 21% increase in volunteerism over 2010. Of particular note was our increased effort to schedule larger trips of 10-15 people on most weekends throughout the fall. BAGs collaboration with Food For Free was especially beneficial to this effort because of their large capacity cold storage, which in turn allowed BAG to glean a larger volume per trip, thereby accommodating many more eager volunteers. 2011 also brought our first experience with two interns, Christine Mullane from Boston University and Natalie Brady from Northeastern University. BAG benefited from the their seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm, not only in organizing volunteers and gleaning in the fields, but also in their savvy use of social media, creative and prolific contributions to BAGs website, and their work to provide steady publication of newsletters and other media announcements. They will be sorely missed and have set a very high standard, but BAG will continue to seek other interns who are also passionate about local food and its equitable distribution. Other Impacts In order to more fully document impacts, BAG began counting gleaned produce not only in terms of pounds or bushels, but also in terms of actual servings. Based on a generally accepted standard of 80 grams per serving of vegetable or fruit, we were able to convert our total poundage gleaned to servings, which amounted to 248,998 servings for 2011. In addition, we converted our historic totals and determined that BAG had delivered 855,221 servings since 2004. We look forward to the 2012 gleaning season when we hope to confirm that, since its beginning, BAG will have delivered over 1 million servings of fresh, local fruit and vegetables to food programs in the Boston area.

Boston Area Gleaners, Inc. 2011 Income and Expenses Revenue Individual Donations Grant and Foundation Awards Matching and Corporate Gifts Fundraising Events Collections for Deliveries Sale of BAG Merchandise Cash Injections/Refunds Net Income Operating Expenses Wages + Expenses Supplies (office and operating) Purchases (fundraising, member gifts) Office Equipment Rent Communications (phone, internet, domain, host) Accounting and Legal Transportation Marketing Expenses IT Services (office systems and web) Event Tables and Training Postage and Printing Licenses and Fees Insurance Bank Fees Miscellaneous Total Operating Expenses (Cash) Excess of Income over Expenses (Cash) In-Kind Operations Pro-Bono Director/Gleaning Coordinator In-Kind services In-Kind equipment Total In-Kind Expenses TOTAL COSTS FOR OPERATIONS TOTAL Excess of Income over Expenses

Fiscal Overview
19,382 8,219 125 1,585 5,972 215 201 35,699 19,564 185 728 75 2,550 1,493 1,050 1,745 224 1,275 344 821 259 3,270 78 607 34,268 1,431

BAG finished 2011 in the black in cash value. However, we still depended largely on the pro-bono labor of Oakes Plimpton as the director/gleaning coordinator. The Strategic Planning Committee made plans to begin to cover this unsustainable labor arrangement in 2012. Insurance increased significantly because of the ownership and use of a donated van in Dec. of 2010. Membership and Donations BAG had 112 individual member donors in 2011, for a total of $19,382, a nearly 30% increase in total gifted dollars over 2010. Forty of these donors were new. Four individuals gave $1,000 or more. Grants, Gifts, and Foundations BAG received grants and gifts from the following: Community Health Network Area 17, Project Bread, the Feinstein Family Foundation, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Melvina Foundation, and Eastern Bank. Staff In October, Oakes stepped down as pro-bono Executive Director and recommended to the board of directors that Duck Caldwell be promoted from Administrator, a post she had held since January 1, 2010. The board voted unanimously to do so, and she took the post enthusiastically. Media announcements were distributed widely. She remained the only employee of BAG in 2011.

22,214 1,350 200 23,764 58,032 (22,333)

A successful day apple picking! volunteer, Myriel & Oakes

Laurie Duck Caldwell

Oakes Plimpton

Gratitude and Thanks

BAG wishes to thank the following individuals for their exceptional work and support in 2011: Rose Arruda, Commissioner Scott Soares, Governor Deval Patrick, Todd Kaplan, Helen Palmer, all the great folks at Waltham Fields, the Federation of Farmers Markets, 4-H of eastern MA, David Leslie and Michelle Holcomb of Food For Free, Heli Thomford, Liz Ammons, David Pinckney, Carolyn Wortman, John Laurenson, August Sanders, Vicky Rose, Molly and the Whatnots for playing without charge at our spring event, Scott Clarke for taking care of The Glean Machine, and Rebecca Riccio for generous and invaluable organizational development advice.
A volunteer highlights the beautiful produce & landscape Food Day with Governor Patrick: Duck & Family- at The Food Project Volunteer picking kale at Dicks Market Garden

The following businesses enabled our upkeep: Allegra Printing of Waltham, Walden Webworks, the University of Massachusetts, Eastern Bank, John Monticone (accounting), and A&B Insurance.