A.D. Ibarra

-Eagle Pass

One never knows where help is going to come from when we are most in need. 

When The Eagle Pass News Gram learned of a very generous donation of $18,000.00 of food which was graciously donated by Amy's Kitchen Inc. based out of Petaluma, California, we immediately reached out to Becky Ballou who let us know where the donation had come from.

We caught up with Norma Mery, Director of Manufacturing Services, who works to develop sourcing opportunities from the Southern Hemisphere and is also responsible for co-packing, plant automation projects, and process improvements for the company.  Norma Mery is working in developing growers from Mexico, Ecuador, and Spain who provide ingredients for Amy's products to keep up with the company's growth.  These ingredients include tomatoes, onions, broccoli, asparagus, and beans to name a few, that are used to make the many fabulous organic products provided by this highly successful corporation which had incredibly humble beginnings and has now turned into a multi-million dollar industry in just 25 years.

Amy's kitchen began as a labor of love when Rachel and Andy Berliner, Rachel in particular, was looking for organic food to eat and stay healthy when she was pregnant with Amy, their first and only child and the name sake for the company, and she was not able to find food that appealed to her.

They began cooking organic pot pies out of their own kitchen before the business moved to a barn in Petaluma which became their first processing plant.   When the demand for their pot pies became too big for their kitchen they started their first plant in Santa Rosa CA and the rest as they say, is history.  The company has been featured in major US publications such as Parents, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day and Better Homes and Gardens and even made #11 on the list of the top 125 packaged foods for women with their amazing Amy's Organic Pound Cake last year.  They have also been filmed many times by the Food Channel for programs like "How It's Made".

Now with processing plants in Santa Rosa, California and White City, Oregon, business is better than ever and they are selling an incredible $380,000,000.00 a year.  According to Norma, they export to Europe, Australia, India, and Mexico with whom they have a relationship with Comercial Mexicana.  Amy's Kitchen has local distribution through Walmart and HEB.  They employ 1,200 workers at each of their processing plants.

"Our products are very healthy and we work with organic growers to get everything we use for our products," added the director of manufacturing services, "When Andy and Rachel heard of the tragedy in Eagle Pass they immediately asked what they could do to help, that's the kind of humanitarian approach they always have".

Amy's Kitchen was in Eagle Pass on Friday distributing 22,000 cans of soup and Norma Mery, a proud Eagle Passan herself, descendant of the Buentello family, will be on hand to assist in the distribution at the Maverick County Food Pantry.