Joel Veri, at left, of Exeter Produce, donates rutabagas to Lex Wilder and Lisa Spasato of City Harvest.
EXETER – Forty thousand pounds of rutabagas will be distributed to people in New York who were affected by Hurricane Sandy, thanks to a donation from Exeter Produce and Storage Company Ltd.
The Huron County producers of rutabagas, cabbage, beans, carrots, cubanelle and bell peppers made the donation to City Harvest in New York City, which will deliver them to 600 food programs.
After Hurricane Sandy hit the city Oct. 29 causing an estimated $63-billion damage, there was increased demand for produce at food banks.
The rutabaga donation was announced Dec. 5 during the 2012 New York Produce Show and Conference, according to the release.
Exeter Produce is a family business that operates on a 3,000-acre property near Exeter that includes a 22-acre greenhouse. It has made donations to the Huron County Food Bank, the Seaforth Food Bank and been part of the Huron County Good Food Box, which provides monthly to families boxes of healthy fruits and vegetables that are competitively priced because the volunteer-run program buys in bulk.
It has donated 1,500 pounds of rutabagas to the Local Community Food Centre in Stratford, which was recently developed as a division of the United Way of Perth-Huron in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada, and to the Salvation Army of London. It is in the process of donating nearly 6,500 pounds of rutabagas to the Ontario Association of Food Banks, with 120 participating food banks that service 1,100 hunger relief agencies.
