FreshDirect Grocery Company Gives 72,000 Pounds of Food to Charity During Blizzard

After a blizzard blocked their deliveries on December 26th, New York City grocery delivery service FreshDirect gave all of their food to City Harvest to be distributed to the needy.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on February 02 2011

By Lauren Kelley for Tonic.com

The massive snowstorm that pounded the northeastern US the day after Christmas was disastrous for many companies, not to mention the customers they serve.

In New York City, a combination of city budget cuts and a near-record snow fall meant that many roads were impassable for days after the blizzard, making the situation especially difficult for companies whose business is providing deliveries.

Such was the case for FreshDirect, a grocery delivery company whose trucks have become a familiar sight in the city over the past eight years as thousands of car-less residents have come to rely on the service. When the blizzard hit, that fleet of trucks was buried under several feet of snow, and even after workers dug the vehicles out, making deliveries was impossible in many areas of the city where roads hadn’t been plowed.

Thousands of deliveries, representing tens of thousands of pounds of perishable goods, were delayed or cancelled, and the company scrambled to make right with its customers.

But FreshDirect also quickly took action to ensure that its undeliverable food didn’t go to waste. The company contacted City Harvest, an organization it has long partnered with that “rescues” unused food from restaurants, grocers and other companies, and distributes it to needy individuals throughout New York.

City Harvest was able to salvage an incredible 72,000 pounds of “blizzard food” from FreshDirect — enough to fill four trucks and two tractor trailers, according to a City Harvest spokesperson. That food was then distributed to New York City food programs, which are reporting an average 15 percent increase in demand in 2010.

FreshDirect’s blizzard-week donation added to the nearly six million pounds of food the company has given away over the years — and was about four times larger what the company gives away in a normal week. It was a much-needed holiday gift for struggling New Yorkers.

Michael Ottley, director of operations at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in midtown Manhattan, can attest to the growing hunger epidemic in the city. His program was one of the many that benefited from the FreshDirect donation. “Since August, we’ve seen an 8 percent spike [in demand] over previous years,” Ottley told Tonic.

“The donation helped us get about 1,000 pounds of food, and that’s what it takes us to run our soup kitchen for one day.”

Filed under: Business, Non-Profits,

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