Earl Knauss of the Rotary Club of Hamburg honored as founder of "Farm to Family Program"; recognized by State Sen. Patrick Gallivan with Senate’s Empire AwardRotarians, friends, and family gathered at Uncle Joe’s Diner Oct. 25 to honor Rotarian Earl Knauss as he received the New York State Senate Empire Award from State Sen. Pat Gallivan.
Knauss was recognized as the founder of the Farm to Family vegetable distribution program that has been coordinated through the Rotary Club for the past six years.
The Empire Award is given to a business, institution or individual that has made significant contributions to their local community.
The Farm to Family vegetable distribution program serves thousands of Western New York residents challenged by food insecurity throughout the growing season.
The program provides deliveries to 30 not-for-profit food distribution sites and pantries from May through December, giving away 125,500 pounds of free vegetables last year and 135,000 pounds to date for 2024.
The vegetables are delivered six days a week by an all-volunteer workforce to sites in Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Hamburg, Springville, and points between.
- Eileen Hotho
Knauss, a member of the Hamburg Rotary Club for 50 years, started the vegetable distribution effort in 2007 after being dismayed to discover that edible but blemished vegetables were routinely destroyed if their appearance made them unmarketable. After receiving a gift of bushels of funny looking red peppers and finding out they and many others had been destined by the farm for the waste heap, he approached farmer Bill Zittel requesting additional produce to share with those in need. “Those peppers were perfect except for their shape,” Knauss recalls. Zittel, of the Amos Zittel & Sons Farms agreed and the early modest effort grew to include contributions from the W.D. Henry & Sons and Henry W. Agle & Sons farms. The program has expanded in donations and in recipients of the largesse under the direction of Knauss and to ensure that the free food distribution would endure into the future, he petitioned his club to take it over and keep it going. The Rotary Club of Hamburg in 2018 officially adopted the Farm to Family Program and has been managing it with Knauss remaining at the helm.
PHOTOS (left): Members of the Rotary Club of Hamburg, along with friends and family are shown standing before the two Farm to Family trucks used by volunteers to deliver fresh vegetables six days a week under the direction of Rotarian Earl Knauss who received the Empire Award from State Sen. Pat Gallivan, center.
RIGHT: Sen. Gallivan presented the Empire Award to Earl Knauss amid the applause and good cheer of fellow members of the Rotary Club of Hamburg and his friends and family.
