City Harvest, founded in 1982, is New York City’s first and largest food rescue organization, helping to feed millions of New Yorkers who are struggling to put meals on their tables. Every year, the organization rescues vast amounts of food that would have otherwise gone to waste and delivers it for free to hundreds of food pantries, soup kitchens and other local partners across New York.
City Harvest also educates residents on cooking healthy meals, storing food and shopping on a budget.
Furthermore, City Harvest provides supermarkets with training, technical support, and even infrastructure, such as display refrigerators for perishable foods. In 2022, the organization worked with the NYC Department of Small Business Services and Citi Community Development to create training materials for 80 small food retail partnerships. Through its partnership, Citi Community Development has provided $1 million to help with operating costs of the organization’s work in local supermarkets.
The Challenge:
City Harvest was a long-time prospect of Citi Commercial Bank (CCB), until the Nonprofit Team provided a full banking and credit solution for their financing needs. Prior to the pandemic, CCB began discussing a financing opportunity for the renovation of City Harvest’s new Food Rescue Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The Citi team worked closely with City Harvest while the organization built up the necessary collateral even amid the challenging pandemic environment to secure the loan. Citi ultimately won the business in late 2021, due to the continued support of City Harvest and collaborative effort between teams to provide a creative solution.
The Solution:
Citi closed on a Term Loan for the completion of the new warehouse. City Harvest recently guided the CCB Nonprofit team on a tour of the building for a better understanding of how the space is being utilized. The Food Rescue Center is close to a full city block and is intelligently, beautifully and sustainably designed. Within the building is a large event space, known as The Venue at City Harvest. Proceeds from space will support City Harvest’s work of rescuing and delivering food for free to New Yorkers in need.
Citi is proud to be able to facilitate this next chapter for City Harvest, which positions the organization to continue its critical work helping millions of New Yorkers.
