Food Box Program:
Support Vulnerable Communities

During this time of national crisis, Produce Alliance Foundation (PA Foundation) has provided direct and reliable access of nutritious food boxes to vulnerable communities.  

The pandemic has emphasized the necessity of having a robust and equitable food system, where all Americans, regardless of where they live or how much they earn, can easily get access to nutritious fresh food and where the foodservice supply chain can integrate in this mission. We are a critical part of the solution set to provide hunger relief, grow jobs, and strengthen local economies, particularly in underinvested rural and urban communities.  

Produce Alliance Foundation (PA Foundation) provides immediate access to boxes of fresh food (from re-deployed refrigerated distribution trucks) distributed directly to accessible points within the community. For example, church or school parking lots, doorsteps, bus routes, etc.   These boxes can be customized to meet the needs of the communities they will go to. Customized as to the size, products, and documents placed in the boxes. 

The fresh food that we have distributed over the last seven months and continue to distribute, has created a multilayered blanket of help, impacting the individuals and communities who received millions of boxes of fresh, healthful food, as well as offering a chance for resurrection for thousands of employees working in the fresh food supply chain.   

Food Box Program:
Support Frontline Workers

As numbers continue to rise and cases of COVID-19 extend across the country, we think it’s more important than ever to honor and support our incredible healthcare workers on the frontlines of this crisis working to keep us safe. 

Produce Alliance Foundation (PA Foundation) provides immediate access to boxes of fresh food (from re-deployed refrigerated distribution trucks) distributed in parking lots of healthcare and other essential facilities for workers leaving their shifts. As of December 2020, PA Foundation has raised more than $651,200 in donated funds and have delivered to 69 institutions, including hospitals and law enforcement. We devised this program as the effects of the pandemic were first taking shape, and to date, have served over 20,000 front line responders and provided 500 thousand pounds of produce across the Nation.  

Produce Alliance was awarded Round Three and Round Five of the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program, to date equaling more than $304,246 million dollars. This funding was given to be used to distribute approximately 9 million combination boxes through May 2021.

• Round Three (September 22 - October 31, 2020): Produce Alliance distributed over 55 million pounds of food (over 1.8 million combination boxes of fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meat products) to food banks, community and faith-based organizations, and other non-profits serving in 16 states.

• Round Five (January 25 – Present): In February Produce Alliance distributed over 54 million pounds of food. The USDA then extended the contract through the month of May to distribute an additional 162 million pounds of food totally 216 million pounds. February - May will equal over 7 million combinations boxes of (fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meat products) distributed to food banks, communities and faith-based organizations, and other non-profits serving in 9 states.

While this was conducted through PA and not the PA Foundation, it speaks to the PA Foundations ability to carry out similar funding and scope in a similar time frame. Although that funding ended, our ability to effectively and efficiently distribute food has not. With the help of our network, PA Foundation can distribute an endless amount of food and the need has never been stronger.