City Harvest was able to take a leap of faith thanks to strong branding

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

“People don’t see us as a building. It’s all about our trucks and drivers,” says Heather Wallace, vice president of marketing for the nearly 31-year-old organization. “We have 18 trucks that are a constant reminder for donors and non-donors that we are out there. There’s a real connection to the work we do. If you’re at a bakery in the morning and you see a City Harvest driver walking out with a bag of rescued food, you know that the money you’ve given helped to pay for that driver who is helping that excess food get to New Yorkers in need.