The Votes Are In!
2024 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → Neighborhood Gleaning Organization Branches out to Join Food Forward
Arcadia Weekly Nov 19, 2014
by
share with
Photos by Terry Miller
Neighborhood Gleaning Organization Branches out to Join Food Forward
By Terry Miller
In 2010, an Arcadia high school student started ‘Fruit for All’, a family and neighbor-run organization that would send groups of volunteers out to harvest backyard fruit from local trees (often called gleaning), then donate 100% to food banks in the area.
See Zach Selby, the founder, noticed how much fruit his family’s guava tree produced, but even after eating it and giving plenty away, they still had more than they knew what to do with. Not wanting this food to go to waste, Zach was inspired to harvest and donate the fruit off his tree (such as to Foothill Unity in Monrovia). His work quickly caught on in the community, as more and more pickers and fruit donors joined the cause. In no time, the organization Fruit for All was formed.
News Flash: Not every teenager is preoccupied with texting, computers, video games and Facebook. In fact, we met a rather unique Junior at Arcadia High School in 2011 who spent a good deal of his spare time outdoors in the fresh air helping his fellow man. Zach Selby, then 17, got into some physically exacting work, picking fresh fruit from trees, boxing that fruit and delivering the copious yield to places such as the Foothill Unity Center and Los Angeles Mission. – all with a little help from his friends and consequently new business grew out of a relatively simple premise. The company – Fruit For All – as it is now known, was inescapable. The not-for profit group has been growing gradually but progressively each month as word gets out of this extraordinary endeavor.
The total netted for the day we visited Zach was 645.5 pounds of tangerines, oranges and lemons. It was a big weekend, but “not our biggest” according to Judith Selby who helps her son and his crew every weekend. In late January 2011, Fruit for All had a 1,000-pound-plus weekend “once we added up the picks from our satellite group and our own numbers.” Zach’s mother Judith told us in 2011
. The ambitious group of volunteers got a major boost in the fall 2010 when Arcadia resident Carla Heer and her family joined forces. Heer organized her four kids to knock on doors and hand out flyers in the area looking for donor fruit trees.
It didn’t take long for homeowners to appreciate what these kids were doing. Word is gradually spreading and the buzz is nothing but positive. “Everyone wins” according to Zach’s mother. Kids and some parents are enjoying the out of door experience you simply don’t get on Facebook. The satellite groups, which go out on picks using the founders’ equipment – deliver the fruit to the L.A. mission on a regular basis.
Foothill Unity Center’s executive director in 2011, Joan Whitenack said Fruit For All was “ an answer to our prayers.” A strong believer in fresh fruits and vegetables, especially local fruit, Whitenack said that she is convinced local fruit will help fight off local allergies and other ailments. The not-uncommon theory that has been tested with time and honored by local gourmet chefs who believe in local, seasonal fruit and vegetables.
Foothill Unity Center serves between 600-800 families per week with their Monrovia and Pasadena locations. Whitenack calls Zach Selby’s efforts a “miracle” as fresh fruit and vegetables have such a short shelf life as opposed to canned goods.
Alas, Zach went to college and the organization continued to grow, all of the plump persimmons, gorgeous guavas, and peak pomegranates still needed to be harvested. Fruit For All found an answer in Food Forward. Food Forward is the largest non-profit fruit gleaning organization in Southern California; since 2009, Food Forward has rescued and donated over five million pounds of fresh, local produce that would otherwise go to waste. In 2012, Fruit for All merged with Food Forward, a partnership that ensured fruit in the San Gabriel Valley doesn’t have to go to waste.
Fruit grows wildly under the sunny Southern California sun—but the abundance on the branches hangs in stark contrast to LA’s serious problem of food insecurity. One in six adults and one in four children in LA County are food insecure, meaning they don’t get enough nutritious food to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. Food Forward fills a vital role in the community by connecting those with abundance to those who need it the most. In the 5 years since their establishment, Food Forward has collected over 5 million lbs. of fruit through their Backyard Harvest, Farmers Market Recovery, and Wholesale Recovery Programs, donated 20 million servings, engaged 6,000 volunteers, and picked at over a thousand properties.
In order to continue growing, Food Forward is always looking for more properties and volunteers. If you or someone you know has fruit to donate, check out toociforward org to register your tree. Spread the word! Anyone interested in volunteering can check out foodforward.org/events to find a pick or farmers market glean happening close by; the picks are fun, highly rewarding, and delicious.., so grab a friend or two and come out for a pick!
