Over the past weekend, Soil Born Farms joined with volunteers from the neighborhood groups People Advocating Resources for Community (PARC), Root Causes, students from Cristo Rey and The Met High Schools, and youth from the Fruitridge Manor area for Harvest Sacramento.
On Saturday, the volunteers picked more than 1500 pounds of oranges, grapefruits, lemons and tangelos from homes in the Oak Park area, then met at the Elmo Slider Club House at Max Baer Park to distribute the harvest back to the community.
“This is a wonderful activity that benefits volunteers and the community,” said resident Bonita Francis, who helped pick fruit as well as donated fruit from her orange and lemon trees. “The tree owners were grateful that their fruit would not go to waste, and it was inspirational to see the youth taking initiative and realizing how fun and meaningful community service can be.”
Harvesting this fruit in particular serves many purposes:
1. It helps out the tree owners who for many reasons are unable to harvest their trees.
2. An under utilized resource (fruit) is utilized to meet an unmet need (healthy food for the community).
3. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people and enjoy the accomplishment of shared work within the community where they live.
Next Saturday, March 24th, teams will again go into the Oak Park community to harvest fruit that could have otherwise gone to waste. Volunteers will meet at 9 am in the Christian Brothers High School parking lot. Soil Born Farms’ Harvest Sacramento, Oak Park Neighborhood Association, Fresh Producers and local residents, Steven Root and Heather Haight are collaborating on this event.
All volunteers are welcome and encouraged to take fruit home for their families and all excess fruit will be offered to community residents or donated to Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services. Randy Stannard, Project Coordinator for Harvest Sacramento, is asking who would like to volunteer to register in advance by calling (530) 204-8082 or emailing rstannard@soilborn.org.
