Gary Oppenheimer, "Ample Harvest"

America (like most other countries) has suffered from a disconnect between the 42 million people who grow food in home and community gardens (often more than they can use) and the 50 million Americans (including 1 in 4 kids under the age of six) who don’t have enough food. This has contributed to a staggering amount of food waste, a growing epidemic of childhood obesity and Type II diabetes, and an increase in the waste stream and climate change gas emissions – not to speak of higher costs for the community and the country. Learn how technology can help move solutions from government to the local level, what lessons learned from the inner workings of the Internet have actually been applied to our food distribution network, and about the challenges faced by disruptive solutions in philanthropy.

Meet the CNN Hero/TEDx speaker (introduced by Vint Cerf) who founded AmpleHarvest.org, a one of a kind five year old non-profit that has moved hunger into the cloud by functioning as a Google for the American food bank/pantry network. Built around Google Maps engine and other Google cloud tools, AmpleHarvest.org has created a highly efficient system that connects those with an excess of fresh food directly with those who need it by way of local food pantries in all 50 states – with zero logistics.

Up to now, America’s food safety net depended on centralized food banks acting as hubs that then distributed processed food to 33,500 food pantries nationwide - a highly inefficient network that couldn’t accept or distribute locally grown fresh food leaving tens of millions of Americans to rely only jars and cans of sugar and salt laden processed produce. Thanks to Google’s technology and support, AmpleHarvest.org is changing that and is positioned, in tandem with Google, to convert the entire system into one that uses fresh food as a primary source of produce and canned processed food as a true secondary back up.


Gary Oppenheimer a self-professed aging geek and email pioneer who hates waste and missed opportunities. He is the founder and executive director of AmpleHarvest.org. He was named CNN Hero in 2010, did a 2012 TEDx talk, received Point of Light tribute award in 2013 and most recently, was nominated for the World Food Prize by Vint Cerf.