Can you believe this photo shows our Concrete Jungle founders 16 years ago—right after our scrappy little urban foraging project took root? Aubrey Daniels and Craig Durkin were barely 16 themselves when they turned a backyard cider pressing party into something much bigger: a movement to fight food waste and food insecurity.
Concrete Jungle started as an entirely volunteer-driven project: friends picking fruit together. Our picks expanded quickly to friends of friends and then strangers who became friends. Now, we engage over 1,300 volunteers every year.
Community is Concrete Jungle’s core value and the CJ community has truly built this organization into the impactful solution to food waste and food insecurity that it is today. Since our founding, we’ve harvested and distributed 3.3 million pounds (13.2 million servings) of fresh Georgia-grown produce that would have otherwise gone to waste.
We’re plum thrilled to be celebrating our sweet 16 this year! To mark the occasion, we’ll be sharing gems from the CJ archives on the 16th of every month — and throwing a big ol’ party on November 2nd at the Goat Farm Arts Center. Save the date and stay tuned–it’s going to be juicy!
Want to meet our founders and hear more about our origin story? Watch this video.