Blueberry Boon At Lacey Farm Helps Feed Those In Need

LACEY, NJ — What do you do with a bumper crop of blueberries? If you're Blue Forests Farm in Lacey, you get together a band of volunteers to harvest them and donate them to Fulfill FoodBank - volunteers that include the state's First Lady Tammy Murphy.

Tiffany Bohlin, the farm's owner, noticed one of her blueberry plots was producing an unexpected bounty that risked going to waste, according to a Fulfill news release. She saw it as an opportunity to help the community.

“Blue Forests is proud to support Fulfill in the 2025 growing season,” said Bohlin, a Monmouth County native. “This innovative partnership allowed what would have been a year of improving plant health into a wonderful opportunity to share our regenerative organic blueberries with the residents of Monmouth and Ocean County. We truly appreciate this opportunity to donate Blue Forests fresh Blueberries through Fulfill!”

Up to 20,000 pounds of fresh blueberries will be saved from waste, according to Fulfill.

Since July 1, volunteers have come to the farm to pick, sort and package the fruit.

“More than 100,000 of our Ocean and Monmouth County neighbors rely on a food pantry or soup kitchen for the food they need – twice as many as before the pandemic. Unfortunately, the most nutritious food is often both the hardest to afford and the least likely to be donated,” said Triada Stampas, President and CEO of Fulfill. “That’s what makes an opportunity like this so special: donations of ripe, in-season fruit at this scale are rare. Thanks to Blue Forests Farm, and the support of our dedicated volunteers, this bounty of beautiful, fresh blueberries is making it to local families who need them. On behalf of all of us at Fulfill, I am grateful for the generosity and teamwork making this possible.”

Murphy, through her Nurture NJ initiative, is committed to addressing food security statewide.

“No resident of the Garden State should go without access to fresh, nutritious food,” said Murphy. “Ensuring New Jersey communities have the resources they need to eat healthfully is critically important, and I am so grateful for the work that Fulfill – alongside some incredible NJ farm owners – are doing to combat food insecurity. It was really wonderful to participate in this blueberry harvest and join with these outstanding organizations as we work to end hunger here in New Jersey.”

Community partners also stepped in to support the harvest effort. Jersey Central Power & Light, through its Women in Leadership team, has contributed dozens of volunteers to the farm each week.

“Electricity is the lifeblood of our communities but Fulfill provides one of the most essential needs for our local residents: food security,” said Doug Mokoid, President of FirstEnergy, New Jersey. “I’m proud of JCP&L’s Women in Leadership members who are using their time to volunteer with the amazing people at Fulfill to help ensure that this year’s blueberry crop doesn’t go to waste and can help provide healthy nutrition to those in need.”

Each day, the harvested blueberries are transported back to Fulfill’s warehouse, where they are quickly distributed through the organization’s network of local pantries, soup kitchens, and mobile food distribution sites.