An upstate New York food bank was offered a very large amount of freshly cleaned Salmon this month. LocalCoho, a salmon farm that was soon to be closed, had 40,000 lbs. of live salmon to donate to the local food bank. The “catch” was that it all needed to be processed quickly. The fish were still swimming and very much alive when promised to the food bank. The food bank had to determine how to get 13,000 salmon cleaned and processed for the food bank distribution. The salmon farm is set to close on Friday, January 31, 2025.
Dozens of volunteers wore waterproof overalls to fill nets and empty the fish into cold storage containers. Most of the volunteers had only been used to sorting through vegetables and canned goods, so this task was quite a change!
The food bank enlisted 42 volunteers and a local business offered for them to use refrigerated trucks for shipping the fish to a processor.
The salmon will be distributed among 243 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other institutions in the food bank’s network.
It is estimated that it will total around 26,000 servings, which is a wonderful source of protein. This gift of salmon will make a positive impact on the local communities.