At 6:45 am on August 11th, my dad and I arrived at an inconspicuous industrial warehouse lot in Secaucus, New Jersey. The world was already awake and bustling with energy as we drove across the George Washington Bridge earlier that morning, with a view of the misty New York City skyline to our left. Once we arrived at the lot, we attempted to gather our bearings as we moved towards a line of parked trucks. Then, I spotted the Table to Table truck and let out a sigh of relief. We were in the right place. I noticed a man near the truck, who I recognized as David Porra from pictures and videos taken by fellow Farmlinker, Jules Hartman, at a previous delivery. Shortly after my dad and I arrived, an enormous truck pulled up, and David proceeded to vigorously unload 22 pallets (4,224 gallons) of 1% milk. You would have never known that it was barely 7 am just by watching David energetically utilize pallet trucks and forklifts to bring pallet after pallet into the Table to Table truck or beside an adjacent warehouse. He repeatedly apologized to the milk truck driver for the delay, not wanting to interfere with his schedule, already demonstrating how much he cares about others.
This delivery was our fourth delivery of 1% milk to the New Jersey nonprofit Table to Table (you can read more about our partnership with Table to Table here). The organization distributes food to Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey. David has worked as a Table to Table truck driver for nearly nine years, spending his days delivering food to local agencies, community organizations, and food pantries. On July 21st, Jules Hartman interviewed David to learn more about his role at Table to Table. He is passionate about the essential work he does:
“One of the things I love about working for Table to Table is that we help the community. We bring food to the community, to all those people that really need it. And especially now when you can see a lot of people really need food. A lot of people lost their job. And that’s one of the things that every night when I go to bed, I feel comfortable and I feel happy because I see and I can feel that somebody got something to eat before going to bed.”
David described the changes that have occurred since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the increased demand for food at partner agencies: “We got a lot of calls from the agencies that really need food. ‘David, Julie, we need more food, can you just bring more food to us?’ Everyday you see a line, uh, maybe 200 people standing just waiting for food.” Julie Kinner is the Director of Recipient Relations & Community Affairs at Table to Table. David, as the Lead Driver & Manager of Logistics for Table to Table, works closely with fellow supervisor Julie to make each of these local deliveries happen.
The simple, efficient process that Table to Table maintains for distributing the milk to partner agencies amazes me. David loads about five pallets onto the Table to Table truck everyday, distributing them to different communities in need. The rest of the milk remains in the refrigerated warehouse until all of the pallets are delivered. Over the course of six deliveries, The Farmlink Project has facilitated the delivery of over 214,000 pounds of milk to Table to Table. Furthermore, according to the Table to Table website, the organization delivered the equivalent of 26 million meals to people in need in New Jersey in 2019. Nonetheless, David knows that there is still much work to be done: “One of the hopes is to try to get more people to donate more food to help the community more. Even more.”
As my dad and I prepared to hop in our car and travel home, David gave me a fist bump, just as he had done after I arrived. To me, this greeting represented teamwork and how we are all connected in this mission of providing food to food insecure communities. Speaking of connections, I happened to be back in northern New Jersey later that week visiting family. While my parents and I sat in our car waiting for the street light to turn green in the town of Wanaque in Passaic County, I saw a white truck with a familiar green and purple logo drive in front of us. I excitedly pointed out the Table to Table truck to my parents and exclaimed how this was such a strange coincidence. But really, it demonstrates Table to Table’s widespread commitment to the communities they serve. David embodies this commitment to feeding the community. I wondered if David was driving that truck.
These changes are great. But how’s it all going to be funded?
During the comment process, Farmlink, as well as other food rescue organizations and coalitions, raised critical questions about how the strategy would be funded and, as a result, which measures are feasible. In particular, we hoped for more clarity beyond the draft’s statement that the USDA would use American Rescue Plan Act and Inflation Reduction Act funds and the EPA would use Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. Of the 86 programs or initiatives reviewed in the final strategy, only 15 are completely new programs announced in the strategy.
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The other 71 are existing programs or initiatives that either already have a food loss and waste focus or that the national strategy has repackaged as food loss and waste solutions. While we had hopes of new, innovative programs being included in the strategy, the good news with these 71 programs is that most, if not all, are already funded, meaning that they are not reliant on an increasingly turbulent Congress for implementation. Of the 15 new programs, which included the EPA’s new consumer education campaign and several new cooperative agreements with land-grant universities, only 2 had specific funding mechanisms. It has become increasingly clear that food rescue organizations and other stakeholders in the food and agriculture space should not consider this strategy as a new rollout of FLW solutions, programs, and funding but rather as an evaluation of the current resources and solutions and how each can be most effectively utilized to achieve the strategy’s goals. In particular, the framing of many of USDA’s programs as FLW solutions offers opportunities to utilize existing funding, data, and infrastructure to solve one of the United States’s most pressing problems.
Whats next?
Now that we have the strategy, it’s time to truly take advantage of the opportunities it presents. In the immediate future at Farmlink, we’re excited to continue optimizing Section 32 as a critical on-farm food loss solution as we anticipate significant surplus recoveries in the fall. As we move forward, we continue to advocate for dignity with food distribution, emphasizing cultural appropriateness and quality in every pound of food we rescue. As outlined in our comments, food rescue organizations are critical stakeholders and thought partners for the agencies. Our inclusion in the strategy as such is an opportunity we are taking full advantage of to help guide federal action to support farmers, feed communities, and heal the planet.
< BackAt 6:45 am on August 11th, my dad and I arrived at an inconspicuous industrial warehouse lot in Secaucus, New Jersey. The world was already awake and bustling with energy as we drove across the George Washington Bridge earlier that morning, with a view of the misty New York City skyline to our left. Once we arrived at the lot, we attempted to gather our bearings as we moved towards a line of parked trucks. Then, I spotted the Table to Table truck and let out a sigh of relief. We were in the right place. I noticed a man near the truck, who I recognized as David Porra from pictures and videos taken by fellow Farmlinker, Jules Hartman, at a previous delivery. Shortly after my dad and I arrived, an enormous truck pulled up, and David proceeded to vigorously unload 22 pallets (4,224 gallons) of 1% milk. You would have never known that it was barely 7 am just by watching David energetically utilize pallet trucks and forklifts to bring pallet after pallet into the Table to Table truck or beside an adjacent warehouse. He repeatedly apologized to the milk truck driver for the delay, not wanting to interfere with his schedule, already demonstrating how much he cares about others.
This delivery was our fourth delivery of 1% milk to the New Jersey nonprofit Table to Table (you can read more about our partnership with Table to Table here). The organization distributes food to Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey. David has worked as a Table to Table truck driver for nearly nine years, spending his days delivering food to local agencies, community organizations, and food pantries. On July 21st, Jules Hartman interviewed David to learn more about his role at Table to Table. He is passionate about the essential work he does:
“One of the things I love about working for Table to Table is that we help the community. We bring food to the community, to all those people that really need it. And especially now when you can see a lot of people really need food. A lot of people lost their job. And that’s one of the things that every night when I go to bed, I feel comfortable and I feel happy because I see and I can feel that somebody got something to eat before going to bed.”
David described the changes that have occurred since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the increased demand for food at partner agencies: “We got a lot of calls from the agencies that really need food. ‘David, Julie, we need more food, can you just bring more food to us?’ Everyday you see a line, uh, maybe 200 people standing just waiting for food.” Julie Kinner is the Director of Recipient Relations & Community Affairs at Table to Table. David, as the Lead Driver & Manager of Logistics for Table to Table, works closely with fellow supervisor Julie to make each of these local deliveries happen.
The simple, efficient process that Table to Table maintains for distributing the milk to partner agencies amazes me. David loads about five pallets onto the Table to Table truck everyday, distributing them to different communities in need. The rest of the milk remains in the refrigerated warehouse until all of the pallets are delivered. Over the course of six deliveries, The Farmlink Project has facilitated the delivery of over 214,000 pounds of milk to Table to Table. Furthermore, according to the Table to Table website, the organization delivered the equivalent of 26 million meals to people in need in New Jersey in 2019. Nonetheless, David knows that there is still much work to be done: “One of the hopes is to try to get more people to donate more food to help the community more. Even more.”
As my dad and I prepared to hop in our car and travel home, David gave me a fist bump, just as he had done after I arrived. To me, this greeting represented teamwork and how we are all connected in this mission of providing food to food insecure communities. Speaking of connections, I happened to be back in northern New Jersey later that week visiting family. While my parents and I sat in our car waiting for the street light to turn green in the town of Wanaque in Passaic County, I saw a white truck with a familiar green and purple logo drive in front of us. I excitedly pointed out the Table to Table truck to my parents and exclaimed how this was such a strange coincidence. But really, it demonstrates Table to Table’s widespread commitment to the communities they serve. David embodies this commitment to feeding the community. I wondered if David was driving that truck.
David Porra
Table to Table Truck Driver
At 6:45 am on August 11th, my dad and I arrived at an inconspicuous industrial warehouse lot in Secaucus, New Jersey. The world was already awake and bustling with energy as we drove across the George Washington Bridge earlier that morning, with a view of the misty New York City skyline to our left. Once we arrived at the lot, we attempted to gather our bearings as we moved towards a line of parked trucks. Then, I spotted the Table to Table truck and let out a sigh of relief. We were in the right place. I noticed a man near the truck, who I recognized as David Porra from pictures and videos taken by fellow Farmlinker, Jules Hartman, at a previous delivery. Shortly after my dad and I arrived, an enormous truck pulled up, and David proceeded to vigorously unload 22 pallets (4,224 gallons) of 1% milk. You would have never known that it was barely 7 am just by watching David energetically utilize pallet trucks and forklifts to bring pallet after pallet into the Table to Table truck or beside an adjacent warehouse. He repeatedly apologized to the milk truck driver for the delay, not wanting to interfere with his schedule, already demonstrating how much he cares about others.
This delivery was our fourth delivery of 1% milk to the New Jersey nonprofit Table to Table (you can read more about our partnership with Table to Table here). The organization distributes food to Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey. David has worked as a Table to Table truck driver for nearly nine years, spending his days delivering food to local agencies, community organizations, and food pantries. On July 21st, Jules Hartman interviewed David to learn more about his role at Table to Table. He is passionate about the essential work he does:
“One of the things I love about working for Table to Table is that we help the community. We bring food to the community, to all those people that really need it. And especially now when you can see a lot of people really need food. A lot of people lost their job. And that’s one of the things that every night when I go to bed, I feel comfortable and I feel happy because I see and I can feel that somebody got something to eat before going to bed.”
David described the changes that have occurred since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the increased demand for food at partner agencies: “We got a lot of calls from the agencies that really need food. ‘David, Julie, we need more food, can you just bring more food to us?’ Everyday you see a line, uh, maybe 200 people standing just waiting for food.” Julie Kinner is the Director of Recipient Relations & Community Affairs at Table to Table. David, as the Lead Driver & Manager of Logistics for Table to Table, works closely with fellow supervisor Julie to make each of these local deliveries happen.
The simple, efficient process that Table to Table maintains for distributing the milk to partner agencies amazes me. David loads about five pallets onto the Table to Table truck everyday, distributing them to different communities in need. The rest of the milk remains in the refrigerated warehouse until all of the pallets are delivered. Over the course of six deliveries, The Farmlink Project has facilitated the delivery of over 214,000 pounds of milk to Table to Table. Furthermore, according to the Table to Table website, the organization delivered the equivalent of 26 million meals to people in need in New Jersey in 2019. Nonetheless, David knows that there is still much work to be done: “One of the hopes is to try to get more people to donate more food to help the community more. Even more.”
As my dad and I prepared to hop in our car and travel home, David gave me a fist bump, just as he had done after I arrived. To me, this greeting represented teamwork and how we are all connected in this mission of providing food to food insecure communities. Speaking of connections, I happened to be back in northern New Jersey later that week visiting family. While my parents and I sat in our car waiting for the street light to turn green in the town of Wanaque in Passaic County, I saw a white truck with a familiar green and purple logo drive in front of us. I excitedly pointed out the Table to Table truck to my parents and exclaimed how this was such a strange coincidence. But really, it demonstrates Table to Table’s widespread commitment to the communities they serve. David embodies this commitment to feeding the community. I wondered if David was driving that truck.
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