Now that the dust has settled from our marathon Brooklyn or Bust trip
yesterday, I wanted to give you a recap of the amazing amount of support we
received from the One Acre Farm Community. Keep in mind this all started only
Tuesday afternoon while I was watching Seinfeld and Amelia was sleeping.
Reading a post of an old friend on Facebook re-posting a request for vegetables
from a group called Occupy Sandy, based in Sunset Park Brooklyn. I called
him to find out more info. After a few feeler calls to farms in the area, I
quickly realized there was plenty of food to donate and the plan was in
place.
Robert Lewis from Lewis Orchards donated 30 boxes of apples;
Sharon from East Rivendell Farm donated 40 dozen fresh eggs;
Cava Mezze Foods donated 4 cases of dips;
Mayorga Coffee donated 40 bags of freshly roasted/ground coffee;
Larry's Cookies (when I was picking up the dip from Cava I noticed a cookie
shop next door and just went up and asked them) donated 5 trays of bars and
cookies, I guess I look trustworthy!!!
Joan Norman from One Straw Farm, the farm I apprenticed on outside
Baltimore, gave 15 cases of an assortment of vegetables: cabbages, collards,
kale, spinach and more;
We, One Acre Farm, donated 2 boxes of red cabbage;
Kervitsky Family Apiaries donated 3 lbs of Honey;
Butlers Orchard donated one box of apples; and
Red Wiggler Farm donated 370 pounds of sweet potatoes and 30 pounds of
Winter Squash.
To give you an idea about the kitchen where we brought the food, it was the
basement of a church with tables and tables of people prepping vegetables,
peeling potatoes, chopping carrots, then in the actual kitchen where I did
not venture into was a dozen or 2 cooks cooking tons of food. Then was the
packaging area when it got wrapped up, labeled with location and sent on its way
by a driver. The best way to describe it is organized chaos. Not to mention
they had received a shipment from The Daily Show of 11000 apple pies. I still
am not sure if they meant 11000 pies or 11000 pieces of pie since each slice was
individually wrapped.
That was the food portion of our donation.
We also received monetary donationsy, which at the moment is up to over
$1,500!!! Not bad considering we mobilized efforts in a two day period!
When I noticed that we were raising more then we needed, I asked a few of
you if I could spend your money buying items that were needed, with that money
we bought a great supply of wool socks (54 pairs of socks), thermal underwear
(22 sets), diapers and 80 flashlights. My original plan was to take the
extra monetary donations and send it to the Red Cross. After going to Brooklyn
and seeing that there are areas that need help but are not getting a lot of
attention and support from Red Cross and FEMA because they are not considered
the hardest hit (but trust me, they are still devastated), I decided that I
would get in touch with a few of the organizations up there that are in need and
get a list of items and directly ship those items to them.
Then came clothes, bags and bags of winter clothes (about 20 bags and 6
boxes of warm winter clothes). Unfortunately when we got to the drop off in
Brooklyn, they were inundated with clothes and suggested we take them elsewhere,
which we did. The Salvation Army was down the street taking clothes donations
and so we dropped half the clothes there.
We then brainstormed for the final location to drop off the thermal underwear, flashlights, socks, and diapers. Red Hook, a community on the water that still doesn't have power (not to mention it holds a special place in my heart since my sister lived there, I used to hang out by the water when we were living there...) Driving around we found a public library who, unlike the Occupy Sandy location that was full to the ceiling with clothes, had basically nothing. They were grateful and took everything we had left. As soon as we started unloading, people were lining up to get these items!
We then brainstormed for the final location to drop off the thermal underwear, flashlights, socks, and diapers. Red Hook, a community on the water that still doesn't have power (not to mention it holds a special place in my heart since my sister lived there, I used to hang out by the water when we were living there...) Driving around we found a public library who, unlike the Occupy Sandy location that was full to the ceiling with clothes, had basically nothing. They were grateful and took everything we had left. As soon as we started unloading, people were lining up to get these items!
With that, we were done. Up at 4, loaded by 7, on the highway by 8 (a
little snafu with the generator which wouldn't start delayed us until the auto
parts store opened, a minor detail) Brooklyn by 12:45 unloaded and gone by 2,
home by 7:30.
A major thank you to all who donated time, money or food! It is amazing
how a small community can pull so many resources together so quickly and
still be home for dinner!!!
A great way to end the season here on the farm.
With Much Love and Gratitude,
Michael and Kristin
