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Veggie Rescue’s May 21 Sweet 16 Event A Sweet Success

  • Eryn Shugart
  • May 22, 2026
  • 5:39 pm
  • 0 comments

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Eryn Shugart

Executive Director

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Sweet 16, 5 million pounds, and what comes next

Sixteen years ago, Veggie Rescue started with a simple idea: get surplus food to hungry people before it goes to waste. On May 21, we celebrated what that idea has added up to. Five million pounds of food rescued. Sixteen years of operating. And a party at Bernat Vineyard and Cafe Farm in Los Olivos that raised more than $125,000 in net proceeds.

We called it Sweet 16 and 5 Million Pounds Rescued. Sam and Shawnda Marmorstein hosted the evening on their working farm, ringed with zinnias and sunflowers in full bloom. Sisters Belle Hahn and Lily Hahn Shining were our guest hosts. Live music, food from local restaurants, a live auction, a paddle raise, and a wine pull to close out the night.

We also used the evening to honor Shu and Debby Takikawa of The Garden Of, longtime farm donors whose produce has fed thousands of families over the years.

The numbers behind the party

Since 2010, we've rescued and delivered more than five million pounds of food: fresh produce, meat, dairy, packaged goods. All of it moved from donor to recipient within 24 hours, in refrigerated trucks, with no cold storage and no warehousing lag in between. That's still what makes our model different from most food rescue organizations, and it's why speed has always mattered more to us than volume alone.


Right now we rescue about 746,000 pounds a year. Our next goal is one million pounds annually. The money raised on May 21 gives us the fuel to get there.


I am beyond grateful to our gracious hosts Sam and Shawnda Marmorstein, our generous sponsors and donors, and our incredible staff team and board of directors who came together to celebrate 16 years and five million pounds of food rescued. This event raised more than $125,000 in net proceeds, providing critically needed funds as we pursue our most ambitious goal yet: rescuing one million pounds of food annually, up from 744,000 pounds in 2025.


Shepherd Giving Farm

Some of that money will go toward Shepherd Giving Farm, a new 20-acre property between Buellton and Lompoc that grows food for one purpose: donation. Longtime farmer Tom Shepherd runs it, and every crop that comes off that land goes straight into our network of 70+ nonprofit partners across Santa Barbara County.

"After a lifetime of farming, there is nothing more satisfying than knowing that every crop we grow at Shepherd Giving Farm goes directly to feeding people in our community who need it most," Shepherd said.

Thank you

None of this happens without the people who showed up, bid, and gave. Our Fifty Carrot sponsors were the Coryat Family, MarAmi Vineyards, and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Foundation.

Our Twenty-Five Carrot sponsors were Mechanics Bank, Montecito Bank & Trust, New Frontiers Natural Market, Solomon Hills, Steve and Lisa Palmer, and the Santa Ynez Valley Foundation's Nagler Family Funds.

And thank you to our founders, Holly and Terry Delaney, who started this whole thing 16 years ago and were there on May 21 to see what it's become.

Want more on the night? The Santa Barbara Independent and the Santa Maria Times both covered the celebration:

One million pounds a year is next. We're on our way.