City Harvest

Since 1986, The Starr Foundation has been a partner to City Harvest, New York’s first and largest food rescue organization.

City Harvest rescues high-quality, nutritious food—more than 70% of which is fresh produce—that would otherwise go to waste, and delivers it to food pantries, soup kitchens, mobile markets, schools, and other community partners. Recognizing that logistics are instrumental to City Harvest’s food rescue and delivery work, the Starr Foundation contributed to City Harvest’s key capital campaigns, helping it acquire larger spaces as it grew. In 2022, City Harvest moved into the 150,000-square-foot Cohen Community Food Rescue Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, allowing City Harvest to continue to grow its operations in order to meet the persistently high need for food assistance in New York City.

City Harvest’s annual Thanksgiving turkey distributions, which The Starr Foundation supported for nearly 20 years, helps struggling families celebrate Thanksgiving with a turkey and other holiday staples. LaNeda Mondesir, the Executive Director of the Harding Ford Vision, a City Harvest food pantry in Jamaica, Queens, shared the importance of these Thanksgiving distributions: “The donations of turkeys last year made an immediate impact on families that are on a tight budget and want to continue the traditional celebration of Thanksgiving with their children. Most families go beyond their food budget to accommodate family members who attend a holiday, and it would be impossible to make this happen without [the distributions]. Seeing the smiles on families’ faces when you hand them a turkey is just priceless.”

The Foundation’s general operating support has also helped City Harvest to ramp up distribution in New York City in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurricane Sandy, the Great Recession, and 9/11, as well as during national efforts to help hurricane-ravaged communities including Puerto Rico, Texas, and Florida.