TFFJ continues its diligent work to ensure that students, their families, and their communities have adequate access to affordable fresh, nutritious food during the pandemic.
When schools closed in mid-March 2020, requiring TFFJ to shut down our school-based farms and growing operations, we quickly pivoted to find sources for fresh produce for the food-insecure communities served by our farm sites, including local hydroponic growers and major food distributors.
Through these partnerships, TFFJ supports and runs large-scale food distributions on a weekly and biweekly basis that can serve up to 1,000 households in four NYC communities:
TFFJ partners with the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center to provide free produce and shelf-stable items on a weekly basis for 200 community members through food donated by City Harvest and sourced from GrowNYC.
TFFJ partners with Brownsville’s Collective Fare Catering/Collective Food Works on Greens ＆Things BKLYN, a highly affordable, SNAP-accessible weekly bag of healthy groceries to up to 600 households, which include Collective Fare’s delicious recipes and chosen ingredients.
TFFJ partners with Queens High School for Information, Research, and Technology (QIRT) to distribute free weekly food boxes of produce to 100 QIRT students and families.
TFFJ partners with Lincoln Square Neighbourhood Center, Grow NYC, and City Harvest to provide free produce and shelf-stable items on a biweekly basis to 150 high-need senior residents of NYCHA’s Amsterdam Houses.
When schools went remote, TFFJ immediately began adapting its educational programming to a virtual format, engaging nearly 500 students in remote STEM learning, food justice advocacy research, outreach, and problem-solving, and in growing food hydroponically at home both during the curricular day and after school. In this challenging educational environment, TFFJ continues to provide leadership development opportunities for middle and high school youth.
Your support for this work is vital. Please help TFFJ continue to reduce hunger, improve health outcomes, and empower New York City’s youth to fight food insecurity and lead themselves and their communities to healthier futures by donating today!
