Our Mission
Food Forward® fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.
How Your Donations Help
- $1 enables Food Forward to provide 63 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables to people experiencing food insecurity throughout Southern California and beyond.
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Our Impact
Causes We Support
Countries We Serve
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Food Forward's programs work through a network of over 250 hunger relief organizations to divert tens of millions of pounds of surplus fruits and vegetables from landfills to communities that lack reliable access to fresh, nutrient-dense foods, promoting health equity. Through harvests at hundreds of fruit tree properties, gleans at over a dozen weekly farmers markets, and a strong presence at community events across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, our Community Programs engage thousands of volunteers and members of the general public annually as stewards of the regional food system. Through dock- and executive-level relationships with regional and national produce distributors, Food Forward’s Wholesale Recovery Program educates the fresh foods industry about the opportunity that its large-scale operation provides to mitigate the environmental impacts of food waste while supporting communities in need. With consistent produce donations, Food Forward’s hunger relief partners can focus their resources on providing additional services, including health care, job and housing searches, child care, and rehabilitation services. In this way, our programs meet communities’ immediate nutritional needs while supporting the long-term success of the regional social safety net. Every day, Food Forward distributes enough fruits and vegetables to meet the daily recommended servings for more than 310,000 people. Since its founding in 2009, Food Forward has distributed over 500 million pounds (2.8 billion servings) of surplus produce to the communities that need it most. By removing this produce from landfills, Food Forward has prevented over 440,000 metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions—equivalent to taking over 100,000 gas-powered cars off the road for one year. In 2025 alone, Food Forward is on track to recover and distribute a historic 100 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables—that’s over half a billion servings—to its network of hunger relief partners to share with their service communities.
