Written by Jordyn Egbert, Fundraising and Development Specialist VISTA As part of City Fruit’s Harvest Program, they offer community members the opportunity to participate in their U-Pick Program. This program provides tree owners the ability to harvest their tree and then contact the City Fruit…
Written by Jordyn Egbert, Fundraising and Development Specialist VISTA. Updated by Jeanie Neumann, Fundraising and Development Specialist VISTA. The team and volunteers at City Fruit’s Harvest Program harvest roughly 25,000 to 40,000 pounds of fruit annually and redistribute this quality, local fruit throughout Seattle so…
The mission of the Community Harvest gleaning project is to increase access to healthy local produce. The primary way this is accomplished is through gleaning produce that is distributed through the regional distribution warehouse center to food banks in Chelan and Douglas counties. However, aside…
When coordinating gleaning efforts in fruit growing areas, paying particular attention to orchardists as potential donors will likely provide a continual source of gleaning opportunities. While gleaning in orchards can result in an impressive increase in fresh fruit available in your regional emergency food system,…
Record-Keeping may not be the most exciting topic, but keeping good records is critical to the long-term success of any gleaning program. Records will allow you to easily reference what happened in previous years, help you show progress to sponsors and funders, and provide easy…
Throughout its three years, Community Harvest has connected with a range of donors including small- to medium-sized independent farmers who sell to local markets, backyard producers, plant-a-row gardeners, farmers market vendors, and a handful of large scale orchardists. Establishing a large and varied donor base…
One of the main goals of the season was to inform the public about Community Harvest’s successful gleaning projects. But in terms of recruiting volunteers to participate, the project has some improvements to make. Challenges 1. New project: people were a little hesitant to get…
The Greater Wenatchee Area has an abundance of agricultural outlets, particularly with regards to tree fruit. In order to engage larger, local agricultural companies, Community Harvest contacted large packing and processing facilities such as Stemilt, Crunch Pack, and Tree Top. A memo was sent to these…
Field Training and Farm Etiquette Every glean includes field training for volunteers and reviewing farm etiquette, as well as any special harvesting instructions from the farmer. (*Note: all gleaning coordinators should check with the farmer for special instructions on harvesting crops.) The success of a gleaning…
The first attempt to recover produce from the Thursday night Chelan Farmers’ Market yielded mixed results. The Farmers Market Manager was enthusiastic about gleaning produce, and also allowed the use of the Farmers Market information table for Community Harvest materials. A donation box was set…