Rutgers Feeds the Future Celebration Launches Initiative and Honors Supporters

University leadership announced the Healthy Harvest Initiative, which will establish a hub for community and student food security, and honored alumni donors Robert and Harriett Druskin and corporate partner Johnson & Johnson for longstanding support in fighting hunger.

With a backdrop of red barns bathed in setting sunlight, chickens clucking in their pens, and a windmill softly spinning, Rutgers leaders launched an initiative to support student and community food security and honored those who have supported past programs.

“Tonight we join together as a Rutgers community to support many different programs to address hunger and to unite them in the concept of community food security,” said Laura Lawson, executive dean of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), at the Rutgers Feeds the Future event held at Suydam Farms in Somerset on Thursday, September 19.

Lawson unveiled the Healthy Harvest Initiative, which will establish a hub for community food security at 178 Jones Avenue in New Brunswick, the site adjacent to the Cook Campus where the New Brunswick Community Farmers Market is now held on Tuesdays and Saturdays. She said the redeveloped site will provide a direct impact on students’ experience at Rutgers while also serving surrounding neighbors and working with partnering organizations to address critical food and nutrition needs. 

“It’s a site on campus that converges many of our existing programs to increase student involvement and expand our impact serving students and the community,” Lawson said. “We are planning to revitalize the site as a center and focal point that invites students and community to engage in urban food production, improve access to healthy food, and get tools to extend the growing season and the ability to preserve food through cooking, canning, and other ways.”

New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn said he is excited about the potential for growing his department’s partnership with Rutgers to deliver food to those in urban areas.

“We can grow the industry of agriculture and we can solve the food security issues we have in the state because we have enough food,” Wengryn said. “We just have to get it to the people in need.” 

Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway said that the Healthy Harvest Initiative fulfills all three of Rutgers cornerstone values: ensuring access to academic excellence, building community, and serving the common good. 

“This program we’re celebrating tonight has all of those values,” he said.

Rutgers–New Brunswick Chancellor Francine Conway said strengthening the initiative will strengthen existing Rutgers programs such as No Hungry Knights that support food security for students. 

“Our education and service mission requires that we support our students as they work toward their own potential,” she said. “We know approximately one-third of our students have experienced food insecurity. We are making significant progress in this area at Rutgers–New Brunswick.”

Celebrating Supporters of Food Security

The event honored two champions who have supported hunger initiatives at Rutgers and in New Brunswick. 

Johnson & Johnson, which has been headquartered in New Brunswick for 138 years, was a foundational supporter of the New Brunswick Community Farmers Market, a partnership with the company, Rutgers, and the City of New Brunswick. The market supports the development of a sustainable community by bringing healthy food from local farms to families and households across the city. The farmers market launched in 2009 with a grant from Johnson & Johnson, and it has served many thousands throughout its 15 years of existence. 

“Access to food and health are deeply connected," said Tommy Lobben, manager of Community Engagement for Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey. "At Johnson & Johnson, we have a steadfast commitment to supporting our neighbors and surrounding communities in working towards food security. Having greater access to nutritious, safe, and affordable food is key to improving health outcomes and living a healthy life—we will continue to do our part as a corporate citizen to make this a realization for all.”

Robert RC’69 and Harriett Druskin, a member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees, have given generously to the Rutgers Garden Student Farm, which functions as an outdoor classroom that provides hands-on experiences for student and community outreach programs, as well as serving as a vibrant local food source. They also support the No Hungry Knights Scholarship, which provides meal plan awards for food insecure students.

“Food insecurity has been one the things that I’ve been really concerned with,” Harriet Druskin said. “I have tried very hard to make it easier for Rutgers students to eat healthier.”

In closing remarks, Lawson said the first phase of the Healthy Harvest Initiative will require about $6 million in funding. At the end of the event, which was attended by more than 100 supporters, faculty, staff, and students, more than $48,000 for the initiative was committed in an auction-like “paddle raise” to support raised garden beds, scholarships, and other related needs for the program.

For additional photos from the event, visit this folder.

To support the Healthy Harvest Initiative, visit this page or contact Gabrielle Peterson, senior director of development, at gabrielle.peterson@rutgersfoundation.org or 609-532-3200.