Farm to City seeking South Philly location for Winter Harvest

Farm to City, the Philadelphia-based organization that brings together the community through locally-grown foods, is seeking a South Philly location to act as a Winter Harvest drop-off location.

Since it’s more difficult to find fresh produce once farmers markets have closed for the season, Farm to City uses this program to give the community access to these goods at various locations throughout the city. So to ensure that the South Philly population that uses Winter Harvest gets what they need, they’re looking for someone to step up as a site host.

Through Winter Harvest, the community has access to over 500 food items from various locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The majority of the South Philly population that uses this program live between 8th and 15th Street and Wharton to Snyder, which also means that they’re seeking a location in this general area.

So what exactly is Farm to City looking for in a location? Drop-off locations can be in homes, stores, community centers, or vacant space in the community.

Here are some requirements:

• convenient access for the delivery truck; short distance and no or few steps from truck to drop off location.
• on-street or driveway parking for members.
• cool location, can be indoors or a sheltered porch; site host does not have to be there to receive the orders if the site is accessible; delivery is late morning, early afternoon.
• pickup time is two contiguous hours between 4 and 7 pm
• several tables on which to assemble orders
• space to store folded cardboard boxes and cooler(s).

If you decide to become a site host for the Winter Harvest, here are some of the responsibilities involved:

• Assemble member orders prior to the opening pickup time; this takes 30 to 45 min for two people; we provide paper grocery bags at the beginning of the season and urge members to bring their own containers.
• Keep refrigerated and frozen items in their coolers until each member ordering these items arrives.
• Make sure to record missing items on their order sheets.
• Be available during pickup to assist members get all their items and
• Report missing or extra boxes (labeled for a different site) by phone as soon as noticed.
• Report missing items and other issues to our office as soon as possible after pickup.
• Fold the waxed boxes and wipe or wash out the coolers if they are soiled; store boxes and coolers for pickup the following week.

Winter Harvest hosts will get a 15-20% discount on all of their orders.

If you have a location in mind, you can reach out to Bob Pierson at bob@farmtocity.org, or 215-733-9599. You can find out more about Winter Harvest here.