FDN volunteer, Ivy Miller, picks up a donation of apples from Cornell Orchards for distribution to local food pantries.

ITHACA, NY— Friendship Donations Network (FDN) — a local nonprofit that rescues food and reduces hunger — just received 10 bushels of apples from Cornell Orchards. This marks Cornell Orchards’ first weekly donation of this year’s apple season to FDN.

These generous donations from Cornell Orchards will be delivered to local venues such as Loaves and Fishes, Immaculate Conception Food Pantry (and many others) that distribute free meals to community members in the Ithaca area without the means to buy fresh, healthy food.

Sara Pines, who founded Friendship Donations Network in 1988 to reduce food waste and help neighbors in need, recalls “we must have been working with Cornell Orchards for the past 15 to 20 years.” Such a long relationship between the two has had a significant positive effect on the local community, she says.

As Ithaca’s weather grows colder, most fresh produce becomes scarce. However, local apples continue to be available through April, but not everyone in the community can afford to buy them. Cornell Orchards’ weekly donations help provide those in need with a source of fresh, nutritious food during the less fruitful months of winters in Ithaca.

The weekly donations of apples from Cornell Orchards are stored in FDN’s CoolBot.

Friendship Donations Network rescues fresh, nutritious food that would otherwise be thrown away at area stores and farms. Its volunteers then redistribute it to neighbors in need through pantries and programs that serve more than 2,100 people weekly. Each year FDN diverts over 500,000 lbs. of good food from local landfill.