Frozen Onions and Senior Centers

Q: What do frozen onions and senior centers have in common?
A: City Harvest.

Explanation:
This morning the eight interns got a tour of City Harvest's 45,400 sq. ft. warehouse facility, which includes a zero-degree freezer for food that has started to rot and is waiting to be composted. Yay for no waste!

the Food Rescue Facility (warehouse) view across the East River to the Manhattan skyline

ice in the freezerrrrr

The shelves are mostly bare because the workers move quickly to get the produce distributed as soon as possible.

We split up in the afternoon and each visited one of the grocery stores where we'll be leading our tours. I went to the one in Queens, to a store called Mi Tierra where I'll be able to do tours in Spanish (!!!). Of course I got ridiculously off-track on the subways getting there from the warehouse (which is also in Queens) but I was in no rush so it was fine.

After introducing myself to the store manager, I walked around the neighborhood for two hours checking out community organizations nearby who could be good potential partners for recruiting tour participants. I spoke to several social worker-type people, like a social worker at a senior center and the Director of Parent Involvement at an elementary school (I made up that title but you get the picture). Also wrote down names and addresses of many churches and other social organizations in the area.

I limped home, feeling successful but exhausted, in my cute little flats which had rubbed my feet raw in four places. In Tarboro I can just go barefoot :(

Continued my third straight evening googling things to do, places to see, and bars and restaurants to visit. Can't wait for this weekend! I have plans to visit museums and gardens, see an outdoor short film screening, get a free tour of the Brooklyn Brewery, check out an arts festival, visit a City Harvest mobile market, listen to Walt Whitman being read in a park, see a Puerto Rico Day celebration parade, and hear live jazz. Can't wait to jump into all the fun and exciting things this city has to offer!