On a warm summer day in August, American Red Cross volunteers and staff spent a morning harvesting corn on a farm in Milford, New Jersey to help local community members struggling with food insecurity.
Working alongside other groups, the day’s harvest with America’s Grow-a-Row resulted in 18,000 pounds of food, equaling 72,000 servings of healthy produce. Some 14 boxes of this produce were delivered to the Red Cross House food cupboard that supports military families on Joint Base Mcguire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL).
“I am happy and proud to be part of this wonderful volunteer event,” said Katie Thompson, senior volunteer engagement specialist, American Red Cross New Jersey Region. “it’s great to see our volunteers out here harvesting to help feed families in need.”
Being able to spend the day harvesting food for our heroic military members and their families is a beautiful thing and I’m really proud to be a part of this,” said Red Cross Youth Volunteer Haya Almahdy.
The mission of America’s Grow-a-Row farm in New Jersey is to positively impact as many lives as possible through a volunteer effort of planting, picking, rescuing, and delivering free, fresh and healthy produce to those in need. Volunteer groups, like the Red Cross, help harvest crops and are then able to take some of the fresh produce with them to support their cause.
“I’m so glad to be part of this and thankful to America’s Grow-a-Row for providing Red Cross volunteers a chance to help so many in the community and especially our military families living on and around the Joint Base,” said Nicole Bryan, senior volunteer recruitment specialist, American Red Cross New Jersey Region.
Each year the food cupboard supports military families on JBMDL, serving nearly 7,000 people a year with free, non-perishable food and certain household items. This is one of the many ways that our Service to the Armed Forces volunteers support military members and their families at our Red Cross House on JBMDL.
To learn more about Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces, visit redcross.org/SAF.
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