Some college students are helping out food banks, delivering surplus food from farms amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The initiative is organized by The Farmlink Project, which was established earlier this year. It accepts donations and redirects surpluses of farm goods from reduced restaurant orders to food banks at a time of rising unemployment rates, while also helping pay wages of industry workers.
The website touts that it is “fighting hunger and restoring jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic” and says it has delivered 55,300 pounds of food and paid about $2,500 in wages.
In an interview with Fox News, Farmlink founder James Kanoff, a sophomore at Stanford University, said the movement had gained tremendous support.
“It’s been really amazing,” he said, adding that “there’s been an outpouring of support of people volunteering and people donating, of people saying, ‘I’ll pick up a truck, I’ll go pick up on the farm.’ ‘I have extra produce.’ We can’t thank the farmers enough.”
Student volunteers come from Brown University, the University of Southern California, Dartmouth College, Stanford University, the Harvard School of Business and Cornell University, according to Farmlink’s website.