Joseph Sicker, chairman of the International Apple Shippers’ Association, had an idea: Why not use the apples to help unemployed men? He worked with members of the produce industry to fund the purchase of $10,000 worth of surplus apples to sell to unemployed men.
The business model was simple: Men would buy the apples from the apple industry for a reduced price, then sell them at a profit. Sicker gave boxes of apples to unemployed men in New York and other cities. They’d sell them for as much as they could, then pay back $1.75 per box at the end of the day.
From “How Apples Became a Weapon Against the Great Depression” by Erin Blakemore on history.com (2018)
