Written by: Kelli Kaschimer, Director of Client Services 


In honor of Women’s History Month, I want to thank and acknowledge the 60% of our Agency Partners led by amazing women! Each of their names may not (yet) be written in the history books, but they should be for the impact and love that each provides to our communities. We are a better organization for their partnership and their relationship with us at Forgotten Harvest!  

Our incredible women-led Agency Partners fit right in with these other notable women in “Food History:” 

Nancy Fishman
Founder of Forgotten Harvest, without whom our Forgotten Harvest Community wouldn’t exist! Nancy started Forgotten Harvest from the back of her own Jeep while delivering food to those in need throughout her community. In 2004, Forgotten Harvest was the first food rescue organization in the United States to form a rescue partnership with a grocery store, launching a program with Kroger. Today, Forgotten Harvest plans to rescue and distribute over 50 million pounds each year! 

Edna Lewis 
Known as the grand dame of Southern cooking, Edna Lewis (1916-2006) championed African American Southern cooking and culture. She elevated soul food and established its interconnectedness with African culinary techniques and culture throughout her writings and teachings.  

Julia Child 
Julia Child (1912-2004) was mostly known for bringing her fabulous French cuisine to the American people and how she promoted it through her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her TV series, The French Chef. Julia studied most of her cooking in France right after World War II. At that time, the French chef population was mostly men.  

Georgia Gilmore
Georgia Gilmore funded the 1955-56 bus boycotts of the Civil Rights Movement with food. To fund alternative transportation, Gilmore organized Black women across the city to make and sell food. They called the group The Club from Nowhere, and the members went door-to-door and to beauty salons, cab stands, and churches to sell their food. It is estimated that Gilmore and the Club helped to fundraise over $45,000. 

And where would we be without…. 

Ruth Graves Wakefield. . . the Woman Who Invented Chocolate Chip Cookies! 

Ruth Graves Wakefield (1903-1977), an entrepreneur, dietitian, and cookbook author, is most famous for her contribution to American desserts by inventing the chocolate chip cookie in 1938!