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From the Borderlands’ Produce newsletter, September 1, 2022.

With no income or residential qualifications everyone is welcome to contribute and shop at any weekly P.O.W.W.O.W. market(s) for up to 70 lbs. of fruits and veggies.  We are a redistribution program designed for you to share and help others.  You may not sell, barter or trade our product.

Come out, donate $15 cash, and take home a produce box with up to 70lbs of rescued produce. All money raised from this event helps support Borderlands Produce Rescue. Our non-profit focuses on rescuing produce that would otherwise be taken to area landfills. Our mission is reducing methane emissions from area landfills, and in order to do that we need to find a new home for the produce we rescue. That is where you come in.

Since 1994, we have rescued and distributed over 750 million pounds of produce. We have supplemented over 2 billion meals with a side of healthy fruits and vegetables. Your support of our work is much needed and much appreciated. Learn more at https://borderlandsproducerescue.org 

***PLEASE NOTE***  WE CANNOT GUARANTEE ALL VARIETIES OF PRODUCE WILL BE 

AVAILABLE AT EACH MARKET LOCATION

ONLY ONE LOCATION FOR September 3rd

ITEMS AVAILABLE – 9/3/22 LOCATION

• St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church – 1145 E. Ft. Lowell Rd., Tucson 85719 

Honey Nut Squash    Italian Squash    Tomato on Vine    Poppie Tomatoes    Grape tomato        Lemons    Colored Bell Peppers   

BONUS: 1 box Beef Tomato, 10lbs Grape Tomato & 1 case Propel DrinksPlease sign-up to our newsletter; we send an email as soon as we know what varieties will be available for the week: http://tinyurl.com/powwownewsletter

Why do we do what we do? It’s simple; as Borderlands Produce Rescue we believe each of us has the inherent right to eat nutritiously, and to live in a healthy planet. Each time you make a donation and participate in our program you are making a conscious choice to do something about food waste. It takes all of us doing our part to curb food waste and save Mother Earth. 

Food waste is a direct contributor to climate change. In the landfill, buried under layers of waste and without access to light or oxygen, food cannot decompose properly. When this happens, methane gas is produced. Methane is a greenhouse gas, contributing heavily to climate change. Climate change is rapidly causing extreme weather which is killing us and the Planet. This actually comes full circle, because these changes due to climate change actually impact food production and growth. Our food waste actually is preventing us from creating more food in the near future, and taking a toll on our planet each year.    

As Borderlands Produce Rescue, we tackle both sides of this issue. By saving produce from otherwise sitting in the landfill, less greenhouse gasses are emitted into the atmosphere. Our supporters (that’s you!) would have to eat food regardless, as we all do, so for every meal that uses rescued produce, that means less resources going into growing other foods. By rescuing this produce, not only do the producers benefit (they have to otherwise pay fees to dump it at landfills), but the environment benefits too! The resources (water, transportation, etc.) have already been used to grow the food, so it might as well feed our communities, rather than sitting in our landfills!  

Varieties for Saturday, September 3rd:

• Honey Nut Squash    
• Italian Squash    
• Tomato on Vine    
• Poppie (cherry on the vine) Tomatoes    
• Grape tomato        
• Lemons    
• Colored Bell Peppers   
• Beef Tomato

Just as a reminder we are a re-distribution program designed for you to share and help others.  You may not sell, barter or trade our product.

Drive Up & Take Away
Each week we get a number of complaints from supporters about our DUTA program; reserving a produce box in advance of a Borderlands’ P.O.W.W.O.W. market location. Some people are simply just wondering how to donate online to reserve a box, while others are upset that the maximum number of orders have been made prior to our sending out this Thursday newsletter. 

This privilege is for people who want to support our mission of curbing food waste. If you want to wait until you find out what produce will be available (Thursday or Friday each week) you will almost always miss out on being able to reserve a box. The people who participate in our DUTA program are the supporters that really believe in our mission, and are happy to get any produce box, regardless of what varieties the up to 70lbs looks like.

We do not sell produce. We give you produce as a thank you for your (minimum) $15 donation supporting our non-profit, Borderlands Produce Rescue. Our mission is to both curb food waste, and to ensure communities have access to good, nutritious produce. If you want to participate in our DUTA program and reserve a box you must make your donation as early in the week as possible, well before you have any idea what produce we will have that Saturday.

This week, we are allowing 100 DUTA orders to be placed. We still have room for your DUTA box reservation, but we will reach the cap soon. All of the people that made their donation early in the week did so without even knowing what produce would be available. It is the only way to participate in this part of our program, by having blind faith in us and knowing your donations are meant to support the work of our non-profit!

Do you want to reserve a produce box? Now is your chance. Each Monday we give you a chance to start reserving your produce box for that Saturday’s distribution. We only allow a limited number of box-reservations through our website, and if you want to reserve your box you should bookmark this link and reserve as soon in the week as possible.

Why are the box reservations always full by the time I get this newsletter? As the week progresses we often will share pictures of what will be in each produce box. If you wait to find out what we will be distributing, we can promise, you will almost always miss out on reserving a produce box. If you want to take part in reserving a box, you should do it as soon in the week as possible for you.

What if I miss out on reserving a box, can I still get a produce box? Yes! We only give out a limited number (50-100) box reservations at each location. We make MOST of the boxes we give out available ONLY to those supporters who make a cash donation, in-person, on Saturday.

Will I get expedited service if I reserve a box? No. This is not something we can promise you. While some locations do have an expedited line set-up for you, it is not something we can promise you at all locations. That’s why we call this service ‘reserving’ a produce box. If you make a DUTA order you are simply guaranteed a produce box if you pick-up, at the latest, an hour before the market location closes.

How can I make sure to never miss out on reserving a DUTA box? Simple. Just bookmark this link on your favorites (https://borderlandsproducerescue.org/drive-up-and-take-away-1) on your internet browser. Find your location on our produce calendar and set a reminder to check our DUTA link the Monday before your Saturday distribution. Make sure you reserve your box AS EARLY in the week as possible.