TRENTON — Vote for Gary Oppenheimer!
Don't get the wrong idea. The founder of AmpleHarvest.org, West Milford's Oppenheimer is not entering politics. Instead, he has been nominated by New Jersey's First Lady Mary Pat Christie and the New Jersey Heroes Foundation for the August online New Jersey Hero poll for his food prevention work.
Oppenheimer and two other nominees, Adam Lowy of Move for Hunger and Kristina Guttadora of Farmers Against Hunger, are being recognized for their hunger prevention efforts throughout the Garden State.
But there's more to it than just recognition. Whichever nominee gets the most online votes between now and Aug. 31 at 10 a.m., will also receive a grant for their organization (see box).
AmpleHarvest.org is a very simple yet efficient concept to help feed the hungry. It is an online database really, where food pantries sign up, acknowledging they would like fresh fruits an vegetables grown by home gardeners. Gardeners can go to the website and find a pantry near them where they can drop off any excess food from their gardens.
Any home gardener can attest that sometimes there is, well, ample harvest. After giving away excess to family and friends, many let the food rot. Ample Harvest hooks them up with a pantry that will accept the food. And this is great for those who use pantries. Instead of all processed food, folks can have fresh, nutritious locally grown vegetables and fruits. It's a win-win.
Now, Oppenheimer has the opportunity to win $7,500 for the group, which is trying to raise $2 million.
"This is not a local program," said Oppenheimer. Indeed, AmpleHarvest.org connects gardeners with soup kitchens and food pantries in all states.
Oppenheimer was named West Milford's Volunteer of the Year for 2012, but he is known well beyond the township. He met with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, received an advertising grant from Google, was named a CNN Hero and Huffington Post Greatest Person of the Day, and was featured on PBS's Growing a Greener World.
Get voting! And while at the ampleharvest.org site, Oppenheimer encourages everyone to make a donation.