Local non-profit City Fruit is on a mission to grow the Great Seattle Fruit Harvest, and to share even more fruit with our community in this time of greater demand. For over a decade, City Fruit has been putting Seattle’s fruit trees to the best and fullest of use but as so many more families begin to experience food insecurity, it is so much more important that local fruit be harvested and made available. Let that fruit go to families in need rather than rotting on the ground.
The small, grassroots City Fruit can make big things happen, with your help! Here are three ways you can help grow the harvest:
- Tell neighbors about the Great Seattle Fruit Harvest – If you know anyone with a fruit true that produces but an owner who might not need all that fruit, let them know about how they can register their fruit tree. Let them know that their fruit can help feed those in need in our community rather than going to waste. City Fruit has postcards you can use to reach neighbors. Contact lisa@cityfruit.org to request postcards. If you have a fruit tree you want to go to the harvest, you can register at cityfruit.org/treeowners/register-your-tree
- Request a U-Pick Harvest Box – City Fruit has a small but mighty harvest crew that somehow manages to pick tens of thousands of pounds of fruit every year. Still, there are thousands more trees that produce delicious, nourishing fruit. If you have a tree that you can safely harvest, request a U-Pick Harvest Box (click here.) Fill the box with the fruit, and then call the City Fruit crew to pick it up for delivery to a local food bank.
- Become a Neighborhood Ambassador – For those who want to volunteer to be a Great Seattle Fruit harvester, consider applying as a Neighborhood Ambassador volunteer (click here.) This summer, Neighborhood Ambassadors will help harvest in their own neighborhood with hands-on-training. City Fruit needs enthusiastic volunteers who can commit 4 to 5 hours a week, between July 6th and September 7th.
Even if you cannot help in these ways, consider joining City Fruit as a supporting member (click here.) Your membership directly supports the Great Seattle Fruit Harvest program, and the ability of this local non-profit to harvest tens of thousands of pounds of fruit – and to share it with the hungry in our community.