I first learned about Food Forward on the MLK Day of Service my Junior Year.  On that day a group of fellow students and I picked lemons and oranges from a house just three blocks from Oxy.  As we were picking, the little girl who lived there was standing at her back door and crying because we were taking her fruit!  That was really cool that even at that age she placed such value on the fruit.

Food Forward is a gleaning organization.  Homeowners contact Food Forward and offer their backyard fruit trees to be picked by Food Forward's volunteers.  The fruit is then delivered to food banks and homeless shelters, efforts are made to find a drop off location within five miles of the pick site.  A new program that Food Forward has started in the Farmers Market Recovery Program, currently in testing at three farmers markets in LA.  Volunteers in the FMRP circulate Farmers Markets at closing and collect excess produce that was not sold and will not keep.  Without this program the produce would be thrown away.

I am a Property Scout for Food Forward!  After home owners contact Food Forward I go to the person's house to make sure the fruit is good, check that the yard is safe, and determine how many volunteers should come to pick the tree(s).  Not only do I like meeting the eccentric home owners, but I also get really inspired when the homeowners recognize their capacity to help others by sharing their excess. I also volunteer to pick the trees whenever I can!

Food Forward is great to work for, my particular job is especially suited to fit with the college lifestyle.  They always give plenty of notice before their deadlines so I can arrange a time that works for both the homeowner and me.  They are also awesome about assigning me properties in North East LA, since I only have my bike anything too far would be impractical.

The people at Food Forward are always thinking about ways to expand and improve.  The Farmers Market Recovery Program just started this past summer at three markets but in the future it could expand to every farmers market!  I think right now Food Forward needs to expand its database of trees, a task some Oxy groups have taken on through community mapping exercises.

Everyone should check out their website:  http://foodforward.org. If you have a fruit tree that you would like Food Forward to pick you can register it on their website:  http://foodforward.org/get-involved/property-form/.  If you would like to volunteer check out this page:  http://foodforward.org/get-involved/volunteers/  and then come to a pick!

I think apart from the direct benefits in terms of pounds of food donated to charity, Food Forward also has an outstanding capacity to build community.  On their picks they put signs out front that say "Fruit being harvested by Food Forward...100% donated to charity" and their big bright Food Forward Van is usually parked on the curb both of which increase awareness of what they are doing and invite passer-bys to stop by and help!  It's mission focuses on using assets that already exist in a community and redistributing them to those in need which is a great way to help build strong and sustainable communities.