Photo: Left to right – Kathleen Yetman, Executive Director, Prescott Farmers Market; Dee Miller, Store Leader, Fry’s Food Stores in Prescott; Pam Giannonatti, Corporate Affairs Manager, Fry’s Food Stores; Gene Draper, Store Leader, Fry’s Food Stores in Prescott Valley; Tyson Legler, Store Leader, Fry’s Food Store in Prescott
Fry’s Food Stores recently donated $20,000 to the Prescott Farmers Market (PFM) to help local families gain access to fresh and nutritious food and eliminate food waste as part of Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste social and environmental impact plan. The funds will be used to help PFM grow their Community Compost and Feed Your Neighbors programs.
“We are excited to partner with the Prescott Farmers Market in our efforts to create communities free of hunger and waste,” said Monica Garnes, president of Fry’s Food Stores. “Partnering with the Prescott Farmers Markets to help teach the community about composting and to improve access to healthier food aligns with our Fry’s mission to ensure that everyone have access to fresh, nutritious food.”
The donation was awarded through the Kroger Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 2018 to address a fundamental absurdity in our food system: 35% of the food produced is thrown away while 42 million Americans struggle with hunger. The mission of Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan is to help create a more efficient and equitable food and charitable food system with a goal to end hunger in communities and eliminate waste across the company by 2025.
The Prescott Community Compost Project is an educational pilot project that works to reduce food waste through collection and processing of kitchen food scraps into finished compost which is distributed to gardeners at the farmers market to restart the process of growing more food. To date, 60 tons of food scraps have been diverted from the Prescott landfill through the program. PFM’s Feed Your Neighbors program addresses food insecurity by providing fresh fruits and vegetables and staple foods from local farmers and food vendors. PFM partners with local agencies to identify and deliver food boxes to those in need. PFM’s partners in this effort include Prescott Community Cupboard, Yavapai College Food Pantry and Bagdad Food Bank.
“It means a lot for Prescott Farmers Market to partner with Fry’s to reduce food waste and feed our community,” stated Kathleen Yetman, Executive Director of Prescott Farmers Market. “This work reinforces and invests in our local food system, creating a resilient, vibrant and more equitable economy and we all have a role to play.”
About Fry’s Food Stores
At Fry’s Food Stores, a company of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are Fresh for Everyone™ and dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit®. Headquartered in Tolleson, we employ more than 20,000 associates and operate 125 Fry’s Food Stores and 97 fuel centers across the state. Fry’s has been serving Arizonans since 1960 and was selected as the 2019 Business of the Year by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. As a division of The Kroger Family of Companies, we care about the communities we serve, working to end hunger and eliminate waste across the company through our Zero Hunger | Zero Waste social impact plan. In 2021, we provided nearly 12 million meals to Arizona’s hungry families.
About Prescott Farmers Market
As a vital part of the economy, the mission of Prescott Farmers Market (PFM) is to support and expand local agriculture, cultivate a healthy community and increase access to affordable local food. For 25 years, Prescott Farmers Market has been a producer-only market, ensuring that everything sold is grown, raised or made by the person selling it. PFM facilitates one on one personal connections between farmers, food-makers, customers, and community members, all while providing essential services to those in need. PFM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a Qualifying Charitable Organization with the Arizona State Tax Credit program.
