Community Harvest: 1 house, 306 pounds of donated grapes

You’ve no doubt heard by now about Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle, which has been harvesting local produce, particularly fruit, with volunteer help, for donation to local food banks. One homeowner made what turned out to be a really big donation, and shared this note she got from Aviva at Community Harvest after 11 volunteers stopped by to pick grapes two days ago:

“I just dropped off the grapes at the food bank. 306 pounds!! Can you believe it? I would have to say that it is the highest yield/house this season, not to mention that the tree owners (kids included!) were the most fun. This has been a great way to end (well, almost end) the season – and puts us at 6400 pounds – just 100 away from our goal.”

The homeowner/grape donor (who also shared these photos, including that one of a volunteer with a big box of the grapes) added:

So, if your yard has some fruit that you aren’t going to use, please contact Aviva so they can reach the 6500 pound goal! Speaking as the homeowner who donated grapes yesterday, I can personally attest that these people are wonderful– they come to your place, pick and bag the fruit, then take it away. That is about as easy (for the homeowner, lol) as it gets! No more wasted fruit, no nasty mush in the yard, and best of all, lots of good fruit for the food bank.

Contact info for Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle is online at gleanit.org.

MargL September 26, 2009 (11:02 pm)

306 pounds! That’s amazing! As a homeowner who also donated I can personally second how wonderful the program and volunteers are!

Silly Goose September 27, 2009 (10:27 am)

FYI just tried to call the contact number to donate pears and the memory on the voice mail is full and it disconnected me…

WSB September 27, 2009 (10:56 am)

Oh no! I’ll see if I can find Aviva’s e-mail to let her know they’d better clean off the line … a volunteer operation of course so I’m sure they would thank everybody for their patience – TR

MargL September 27, 2009 (11:08 am)

You can also send an email to info@gleanit.org about your tree. Aviva reads that one, too and has been very responsive when I’ve sent emails.

thejunctionhobo September 27, 2009 (3:22 pm)

People don’t need grapes, they need real meat to live on.

John September 28, 2009 (11:48 am)

Here’s my concern…. I have a huge fig tree that produces approximately 500 fist sized figs a year. If I invite people over to climb my tree and pick the figs, will I be liable if one falls and breaks their neck or worse…dies? That’s why I don’t let people up my tree.

Jesse S September 28, 2009 (1:42 pm)

I think it should be noted that most of the volunteers who helped pick the grapes, including me, were organized by Seattle Works – a great org that gets 20 and 30 somethings involved with community non-profits and organizations like Aviva.

We had lots of fun and a good time was had by all!

Charisma September 28, 2009 (4:33 pm)

John – I was one of the volunteers with Seattle Works. I actually signed a liability form with Seattle Works and Community Harvest before volunteering. I don’t think you’d be liable, but Aviva could probably answer that question for you.

Aviva September 29, 2009 (7:25 am)

A couple of comments-
First a huge thanks to everyone who has made this community project happen – including the WS blog, who has gotten the word out, the over 50 volunteers who have helped pick this season – including some West Seattle regulars – some of whom picked weekly, Seattleworks – a great organization – has picked with us on 2 occasions, the tree owners – some of whom harvested their trees, Seattle Public Utitilies – who funded us this season, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, who has funded us previously….yeesh…the list goes on.

As for the impact – fruit vs. meat – as a nutritionist, I have to say that most of the health issues in our country are not d/t lack of meat (or even lack of protein), but inadequate access to healthy whole foods – including fruits and vegetables.

As for liability – we have insurance and yes, we do ask every volunteer to sign a waiver. The home owner would not be responsible. We do not let volunteers climb on trees.

We also do not harvest fruit from super-tall trees with 20 pears on them. Our resources have been stretched this season, as people are finding out about us. We haven’t been able to get to everyone, and I schedule the picks which make best use of our limited resources.

Thanks again to the West Seattle Community for helping to make this project successful. I am grateful to have been able to work on it.

Aviva
Founding Director, Community Harvest of SW Seattle

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