Adopt-a-Box Moves to USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program
The team behind the community-supported Adopt-a-Box program, who have handed out more than 5,200 20-pound boxes filled with Florida produce to families in need, is stepping up their game. They’ll be distributing 12,500 boxes of Redland-raised and Fresh from Florida produce to families in need over the next six weeks through the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box program.
Unity Groves, who with Redland Ahead and Taste of Redland made up the Adopt-a-Box group, was awarded a $1,875,000 contract to partner with the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box program to provide 20-pound boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables each week to families in need through nonprofit groups, government entities, food banks and community and faith-based organizations.
Like many businesses, Unity Groves, a family-owned grower and packing house, suffered when restaurant, foodservice and cruise lines shut down, bring demand for produce to a screeching halt. Unity applied for the USDA program, which – among other things – asked them to explain why they could do the job.
"We were a textbook fit," says Louie Carricarte of Unity Groves. "We already had the experience, the warehouse, a range of products and experience with vegetables and fruits." He says the program solves many issues that have come up since the CORONA-19 pandemic shut down businesses in March. "It keeps farms in business, gives farmers an outlet, gives employees a reason to go to work and helps out families who need it."
Beginning this week, 1,600 boxes will be hand delivered to veterans, underserved communities, food banks, churches and others from Key West to West Palm Beach.
Unity Groves is working with Miami-Dade Parks to continue hosting a weekly drive-up distribution of produce 800 boxes at Larry & Penny Thompson Park and the Miami-Dade County Auditorium every Saturday from May 23 through June 27. This is another smart fit, he says, because the parks provide easy access for the drive-though program.
"Collaboratively, we are advancing in our shared goal of increasing the health and safety of this community, while helping our local growers move produce to families’ tables,” says Miami-Dade County Parks director Maria I. Nardi.
For the remaining 10,000+ boxes, they'll work with a roster of nonprofits, governmental groups, food banks and faith-based organizations across South Florida to distribute the boxes to the community each week through June. Carricarte says their Farmers to Families Food Box program lasts for six weeks and is renewable for up to six months.
Anyone interested in volunteering at Redland Ahead can contact Ocean Hamilton at ocean.rcfam@gmail.com.
The original Adopt-a-Box launched with GoFundMe donations that totaled over $108,500 combined with private donations. Other supporting organizations include the Dade County Farm Bureau, Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, the South Dade Chamber of Commerce, FIU-Florida International University, the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, Greater Miami Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Hemispheric Commerce Coalition, Frank Fiore and his creative network, and Dan Prigmore.
