PERSPECTIVES

Commentary: Collier Harvest Foundation marks 25 years

By Connie Preu
Executive director, Collier Harvest
Preu

In January 1992, two couples — Bert and Jeanne Paradis and John and Anne Raker — got together in the Rakers’ garage to start collecting excess food from local supermarkets and restaurants to distribute to agencies in Collier County who feed the hungry.

The first “food drive” filled a one-car garage. As the charitable venture grew, legal counsel Chuck Kelly established Collier Harvest Foundation, which is still thriving in its mission to deliver healthy and nutritious food to the hungry in Collier and southern Lee counties.

Since then, the founding couples have retired from Collier Harvest, but to this day, the Paradis family is still active with Bert Paradis as board emeritus, Jim Paradis as president and Michelle Paradis on the working board. Brother Dave Paradis still contributes to Collier Harvest by mastering the Collier Harvest Foundation website: www.collierharvest.org.

Today, Collier Harvest still can!

Collier Harvest boasts more than 100 volunteers who work throughout the year, delivering excess food to partner agencies in Collier County. Through excess food collections from many local companies, including Publix, Costco, Fresh Market and more, daily drivers take food directly to partner agencies for distribution.

While Collier Harvest works with larger agencies that are well-known to the community (Salvation Army, Grace Place, St. Vincent DePaul, etc.) the organization likes to focus on smaller agencies that know the pockets of extreme poverty and the specific needs therein. For instance, Collier Harvest provides food for Glendale Bible Baptist Church, which takes food to homebound seniors, and to Corkscrew Baptist, which, with the Sheriff’s Office, brings food to homeless camps in the county. Collier Harvest’s agencies serve all hungry members of our community: the homeless, the young, the old, and the unemployed.

For most of the 25 years, Collier Harvest delivered “Food Without Funds,” relying on the donations of the Paradis family for minimal administrative costs.

Recognizing the overwhelming need for food in Collier County, Collier Harvest transitioned into fund-raising a few years ago to better meet the growing needs of the community. Today, Collier Harvest collects grant money and personal donations to buy fresh, nutritious foods to fulfill agencies’ specific food requests.

One program called Spread the Love provides agencies fresh food, including fresh meats, vegetables, fruits, and non-perishable goods for pickup four times a year.

In addition to filling frequent requests from individual agencies, Collier Harvest also works with Collier County schools to help feed those families under agency care and educate students about the hunger present in their communities.

Recently, Collier Harvest partnered with Moe’s to provide food on a monthly basis: a week’s worth of groceries to families attending self-help workshops at East Naples Middle School.

Collier Harvest operates with one full-time and two part-time paid employees. The Foundation keeps administrative costs as low as possible to assure more money can be spent providing nutrition for the community.

The biggest event of the year for Collier Harvest is Saturday, May 13, when the Foundation partners with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) in a major food drive for Collier County.

All residents are encouraged to leave non-perishable foods by their mailboxes for their mail carriers to pick up and hand off to Collier Harvest.

That day, roughly 150 volunteers sort and process more than 250,000 pounds of food. That stored food will be delivered to hungry Collier citizens during the lean summer months when employment is down, and the kids are home from school. Collier Harvest and the NALC also accept food from mid-March through the food drive for snowbirds leaving early in the season.

Collier Harvest works hard to provide food on a purely local basis, and has never charged its partner agencies for food.

The organization is always looking for volunteers to continue its mission until hunger is eradicated from Southwest Florida. To volunteer, call 239-455-FOOD.

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