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Our vision AmpleHarvest.org envisions an America where millions of gardeners eliminate wasted food, malnutrition and hunger in their own community.

What is AmpleHarvest.org?

Founded by CNN Hero and World Food Prize nominee Gary Oppenheimer, AmpleHarvest.org is a nationwide non-profit that uses technology to educate and enable the estimated 61 million (up from 42 million in pre-COVID19 world) Americans who grow food in home and community gardens to easily donate their surplus harvest to one of 8,105 registered local food pantries spread across all 50 states.

These food pantries help nourish the one out of six Americans (including a quarter of all kids under six) that rely on these pantries.

Mission Statement

To provide food insecure people with a sustained source of fresh, nutritious produce by educating and enabling America’s gardeners to donate their surplus harvests to local food pantries.

two pairs of hands holding bowl of tomatoes

Collaborations

AmpleHarvest.org has been working closely with many organzations as part of our effort to help more people learn that the solution to hunger in America is in their backyard

  • Worked together with Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, to enable healthier eating for millions of people by providing access to the healthy food that would otherwise be unaffordable.

  • Winner of the Glynwood Wave of the Future 2011 award for innovation and leadership in sustainable agriculture and regional food systems.

  • Collaborations with a number of organizations such as Campus Kitchens, the National Gardening Association and the Green Education Foundation are focused on helping more children and teenagers learn about healthy eating and have or create access to fresh produce.

  • Working with AARP, we are working to educate, encourage and enable more gardeners to donate surplus food from gardens to their neighbors in need.

  • AmpleHarvest.org and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) have a joint campaign focused on helping more people become aware of the impact of donated fresh food on America’s veterans, all to many of whom need the help of local food pantries to help feed their families.

  • The US Department of Agriculture has been helping to promote AmpleHarvest.org to America’s 95,000 Master Gardeners.

  • The National Council of Churches have been working together to help more food pantries housed in local churches become aware of and register at AmpleHarvest.org.

  • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been working together to help education Americans on the environmental impact of wasted food.

  • The Green Education Foundation and AmpleHarvest.org are working together to encourage children to learn to grow food to be donated to pantries as part of the “Plant With A Purpose” program.

More Information

  • Our History

    Read how Ampleharvest.org has evolved since our founding in late 2008 by Gary Oppenheimer.

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  • Our Financials

    Download our 2022 annual report, or our IRS 990 form.

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  • About Our Founder

    Gary is a sought after food waste thought leader, World Food Prize nominee, CNN Hero, and lecturer and speaker.

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  • Staff and Board

    The team and board behind the work we do at Ampleharvest.org

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The only way to end hunger is to take action.

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