SF Man Sends Fresh Food From Farm To Family

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― When it's harvest time, most growers eye the best-looking produce. But Gary Maxworthy searches for the imperfect.

"It's a little too small, just wouldn't sell in the supermarket," Gary says, examining an undersized apple.

And that's what forms the core of his program, Farm to Family. He takes fresh produce that's too small or misshapen to sell, delivers it to forty food banks statewide, and feeds half a million needy Californians a week.

Tearing the husk from a piece of corn, he adds, "It's just a little bit small, and it's got an end there, so when a person gets home, just take that off, and you've got perfectly edible corn."

Without Farm to Family, corn like that would be thrown away or fed to animals, Gary explains. He estimates that more than 60 growers and packers will have contributed more than 80 million pounds of fresh produce by the end of 2009.

Gary started Farm to Family nine years ago, when, as a San Francisco Food Bank volunteer, he had to figure out how to distribute a million pounds of perishable fruit to Northern California food banks.

"So I figured, if we could do it with that, and there's need there, and food banks and crying out for it, let's try and bring other products," he remembers.

Today, Farm to Family distributes more than 60 varieties of fresh fruit and vegetables, from potatoes to pears. Gary says it more than compensates for a decline in canned and packaged food donations.

This summer, Gary got invited to the White House as President Obama launched his new Social Innovation Fund and highlighted Farm to Family as a program that works.

"It was great!" Gary says. "As I say, I didn't get into this to get some strokes, but it was nice to have that."

Farm to Family food coordinator Bill Foltz credits Gary's vision for a steady growth in fresh produce donations.

"Has a lot of good ideas," Bill says. "(He's) not closed in by what's happening right now but very able and willing to think beyond what's happening and come up with unique ideas of how we might do it differently."

"It's still good," Gary says, still examining pieces of fruit. "Absolutely."

And he knows his produce: he once led the largest food brokerage in the western U.S.. But he calls Farm to Family a more fruitful endeavor.

"When I got involved in this, it was like this weight lifted from my shoulders. I was doing something I thought was value, and I've got so much more back."

So for feeding millions of Californians fresh fruit and vegetables, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Gary Maxworthy.

By Sharon Chin

There are tax advantages for businesses that donate to Farm to Family. For more information about benefits and liability protections, click here.

Related Links:

* Farm to Family
* San Francisco Food Bank

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