Manischewitz Donates $100,000-Worth Of Grape Juice To New York’s Neediest
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Alexander Rapaport, owner of Masbia Soup Kitchen, is not a fan of “food rescue,” but when a tractor full of $100,000 worth of Welch’s-Manischewitz grape juice pulled up to Masbia’s Queens location, even Rapaport couldn’t deny that this Hanukkah gift was a worthy one. The grape has a sell-by date at the end of January — too soon to be stocked on store shelves — but is in perfect condition.
“Food rescue needs viable economics,” Rapaport said. If someone gives Rapaport a donation of unwanted challah by the end of the week, it’ll be devoured. Give it to him on Sunday and it’ll just sit there.
“The only good way to do food rescue is when a manufacturer has a surplus and he gives it out, pre-expiration date,” said Rapaport. “The idea is often ‘Let’s give the poor all the garbage to eat,’” he said, adding that this went against the biblical concept of giving the first cut, or fatty part, of an animal to the needy. “It’s not dignified to give out something expired.”
Often manufacturers will dump extra, unexpired product in landfills, or they will reserve expired, unsellable products for soup kitchen donations. “Poor people are not garbage cans,” he said.
Shira Feder is a writer. She’s at [email protected] and @shirafeder
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
