A Letter From the Founders:

Back in March of 2020, my sister, Olivia, and I found ourselves stuck at home. My senior year at Indiana University - Bloomington came to standstill. Olivia’s first semester of medical school was conducted virtually. Society went into lockdown as a rising number of COVID-19 cases swept the world. We watched as communities in the Chicagoland area struggled - in particular, to access fresh produce. Nonprofits, farms, and other organizations rushed to donate and distribute food to the hardest-hit communities.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, consumers have been eating from home more often. For certain community members, eating from home poses a multitude of challenges:

• affording fresh, quality produce

• accessing transportation to supermarkets

• having time or resources to regularly cook

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, cooking from home was the preferred way to prepare meals. But as the crisis has impacted the economic health of individuals and communities across the country, millions of people are now experiencing food insecurity, alongside those who were experiencing food insecurity before the crisis began. We wanted to find a way to encourage healthy eating habits for all community members, regardless of the different backgrounds we come from.

“Food is the foundation for how we approach each day.”

Motivated by a desire to serve the Chicagoland community and support the small business of local farms, we are starting this project in our home county of DuPage, Illinois, with a long-term vision of expanding into the hardest hit food desert communities. While accessing fresh produce is the first part of the challenge, knowing how to manage and prepare raw ingredients is equally important. That is why we are proud to partner with community organizations to connect the ingredients and educational resources to communities in need. Fresh produce and nutritional education are crucial to one’s confidence, drive, and overall wellbeing. At A Drop in the Desert, our goal is to help everyone have an equal opportunity to access and experience farm-fresh produce.

“Resolving food disparities is a huge task. But working together, we can start living healthier lives one drop at a time.”