Help City Fruit get fresh fruit to people in need. You can pick your own fruit for them to pick up or make a donation.
We love City Fruit. City Fruit is a local nonprofit organization that is reclaiming the urban orchard, showing people how to harvest what they need and to share the rest with others. City Fruit “promotes urban fruit to nourish people, build community and protect the climate.”
If this were a normal year, right now City Fruit would be busy organizing groups of volunteers for the Great Seattle Fruit Harvest. Volunteers work with the City Fruit crew to pick extra fruit from people’s backyard trees.
City Fruit donates the fresh fruit to meal programs, food banks and community organizations throughout Seattle. Last year City Fruit harvested 36,636 pounds of fruit and donated 31,519 pounds of fruit to meal programs and food banks.
But this is not a normal year. Due to COVID-19, City Fruit has postponed all volunteer events. Their volunteer events are primarily a gathering of people in a public space, and City Fruit thought it wasn’t a good idea to bring groups of people together.
You can help City Fruit with the harvest in two ways.
U-Pick Harvest Box
If you have fruit trees in your yard and will have extra fruit, you can request a U-Pick Harvest Box. Pick your ripe fruit and fill the box. The City Fruit crew will pick up the box when it’s ready and deliver to a neighboring community partner site.
Donate to City Fruit
You can help City Fruit bridge the gap for families who don’t have access to fresh fruit during these trying times. Many people are being forced to tighten their budgets, and fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive than other filling foods like grains. And because fruit is perishable, food banks receive fewer donations of fruit than of highly processed food.
City Fruit offers the option of a one-time donation or monthly giving. You can also become a member of City Fruit. Members get CSA shares of harvested fruit, cider apples and discounts at events and from community partners.
Fruit for All Pop-up
If you know someone who would like more access to fresh fruit, tell them about Fruit for All Pop-up. This year City Fruit has expanded its Fruit for All Pop-up program so they can share FREE, fresh fruit with more community members.
Previously Fruit for All was mainly available as CSA shares for City Fruit members only. This year there will be 12 pop-up fruit stands throughout the city, especially focusing on Seattle’s underserved neighborhoods. Anyone can get free fruit!
The fruit will be super fresh, picked just a few days earlier or even that morning, and there will be varieties of apples, pears, plums and other fruit that you don’t often find in the stores or even at local farmers markets. Available while supplies last.
Find the Fruit for All Pop-up schedule on the City Fruit website. Several pop-ups have already taken place in July and August, and pop-ups will happen in September at New Holly, High Point, Lake City and Ballard.
Other City Fruit Resources
City Fruit also offers fruit tree care services, a Master Fruit Tree Steward Program, help with natural pest control (such as fruit baggies and tree netting), fact sheets about growing fruit and a monthly newsletter.
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