City Harvest Named 2013 Nonprofit Organization of the Year

Press release (June 28, 2013) — The Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation (DMANF) is very pleased to announce that New York City's own City Harvest is the 2013 recipient of its prestigious Nonprofit Organization of the Year Award.

A gala awards luncheon will be held Wednesday, July 17, 2013, during the Federation's New York Nonprofit Conference. Presented annually, the award recognizes outstanding achievement by a nonprofit organization using direct-response marketing to advance its mission.

Serving NYC's five boroughs for more than 30 years now, City Harvest is the world's first food rescue organization. City Harvest helps feed the more than 1 million men, women and children who are at risk of going hungry every day in New York City. With a multichannel fundraising engine restricted to NYC that includes mail, online, e-mail and phone, even the economic collapse and Hurricane Sandy's fury could not keep City Harvest from feeding hungry New Yorkers.

Evacuated during Sandy, City Harvest's Food Rescue Facility and the food inside were unscathed. However, as the parking lot outside flooded, all 18 of their trucks sustained damage. City Harvest quickly pulled together a rental fleet. Just two days after the storm hit NYC, the Food Rescue Facility was re-opened and began accepting tractor trailer loads of food for delivery to their network of some 600 soup kitchens and food pantries. Three days after the storm, with just 12 trucks operational, City Harvest transported upwards of 200,000 pounds of food.

In addition to honoring its standing food delivery commitments to agencies in its network, City Harvest teamed up with federal, state and local authorities to provide emergency food to the hard hit areas of Staten Island, Coney Island and Red Hook in Brooklyn, and Breezy Point and Rockaway in Queens.

Exhibiting the grit and determination New Yorkers are famous for, City Harvest provided a total of 1 million pounds of emergency food to New Yorkers in need throughout the city within the first week after Sandy struck. Over the next seven months the organization delivered a total of 7.5 million pounds of food directly to storm-damaged areas and provided funding to local emergency food programs to ensure long-term support of the many New Yorkers who continue to struggle in these areas.

DMANF General Counsel Xenia "Senny" Boone, Esquire, said, "I am delighted that our Awards Committee made this selection. City Harvest sets an amazing example for other nonprofit organizations. City Harvest's success is indicative of not only hard work, but courage and motivation."