Thurston County Food Bank (TCFB) is interested in partnering with South Capitol Neighborhood to harvest fruit in your neighborhood that may otherwise get left behind.
TCFB’s Gleaning Program has been in operation since 2009 and has gone through many changes. What remains the same is our passion for preventing food waste and providing fresh food to TCFB clients. We recognize that Olympia is a special place with lots of fruit trees and berry bushes growing in residential areas. We also recognize that this fruit often goes un-harvested. TCFB would like to partner with SCNA to help harvest the fruit and deliver it to one of our Food Pantry locations. We have tools for harvest including orchard ladders, fruit pickers/bags, and harvest boxes, and a Gleaning Van for transport.
One barrier to harvesting fruit is the significant amount of labor it takes. We often find ourselves short on volunteers to help harvest the abundance of fruit. To address this, TCFB is trialing a “Pick One, Share One” gleaning model, where for every two shares harvested, one will get donated to the Food Bank and the other the volunteer can take home (one for me, one for you). We hope this will motivate individuals to participate in a TCFB-sponsored glean.
How residents can get involved;
1. Fruit tree and volunteer registration.
– Neighbors can register their fruit trees on the TCFB website at – tcfb.org/donate-my-crop
– Neighbors can register to volunteer at tcfb.org/volunteer
2. Lead organizers enthusiastic about gleaning.
– Can help spread the word and hand out flyers (flyers are attached).
– Can help organize a Gleaning Day Event – a coordinated gleaning effort to harvest several fruit tree harvests in one day.
Please contact Mackenzie McCall at the Thurston County Food Bank (360-584-2402, MackenzieM@tcfb.org) to sign up or for further information.
South Capitol Neighborhood Association 