Support Friendship Donations Network: 35 years of rescuing food
| Support Local Food Rescue by Making a Donation to FDN |
| Dear Friendship Donations Network Community, FDN was started a little over 35 years ago by Sara Pines who single-handedly met the challenge of keeping good food from being wasted and getting it to people that need it. Sara created the foundation on which FDN operates today, and directed FDN for over two decades. In 2009, Sara created an advisory board to explore how best to continue the program into the future. After looking at various options, the decision was made to continue FDN forward as a not-for-profit organization. With the guidance of local attorney Jim Salk, Friendship Donations Network, Inc. was incorporated in 2010. Sara Hess and Jeff Furman provided invaluable support, allowing FDN to initially operate as part of Social Ventures until all approvals were in place. Central to getting us off to a good start was Judy Dietz, who led FDN as its first President until she died in 2012. We owe so much to Judy and her husband, Jerry Dietz. It’s because of Jerry and his creation of the Just Be Cause Center Not-for-Profit Development Center that FDN has its home base. During the last dozen years, the challenge has always been: could FDN, as a corporation, thrive while maintaining the flexibility, informality, and spontaneity that was central to Sara’s early success? Could we keep nimble and simple while growing? And here we are years later, very successfully “Rescuing Food, Reducing Hunger.” Our efforts have grown to include nearly 100 volunteers who pick up and distribute food every day from dozens of donor businesses in partnership with 50 food distribution partners in Tompkins and surrounding countries. Each week these efforts provide over 2,000 people with nutritious food and divert over 1,000 pounds of good food from heading to a landfill every day. In 2023 FDN has continued to re-distribute over 1,000 pounds of good food every day, food that would otherwise go to waste. All of this happens because of scores of volunteers and just one part-time coordinator. We are a lean, efficient operation, but we do have expenses and we depend on the financial support from you, our donors. We hope you will continue to support us as we continue forward. You can make a donation online here. Thank you for supporting FDN’s mission of rescuing food and reducing hunger in our community. Download a PDF of this appeal here. |
