The ribbon was cut on a new food distribution hub on Hole Avenue in La Sierra, filling the gap left by the closure of the Riverside Unified School District’s food hub, connecting local farmers with restaurants.
The Inland Empire Regional Food Hub, processes and distributes produce from farms within 50 miles of Riverside. The facility currently packs about 3,000 boxes weekly and purchases $80,000 in produce from local growers each week.
“Food grown within 400 miles is considered local, the IE food hub is a hyperlocal organization, all food is connected within 50 miles of the hub,” said Joyce Jong, project manager at the city’s Office of Sustainability.
“It’s a win, win.” said Paloma Montes of Blue Zones Project Riverside, a community wellness organization focused on promoting healthy lifestyles, which donated $18,000 for central processing equipment. “It supports our local businesses and entrepreneurs and we hope that someday this will make it possible to get even more fresh grown food in our own schools.”…