Registering our 1000th volunteer…a beautiful thang!

This week our 1000th volunteer signed up with us – a gratifying, humbling and incredible exciting milestone.

A year ago this week, our group of 5, yes 5  was struggling to finish up its first tangerine tree – taking over 3 weeks to clean the sucker….a year later we are seeing four large pick events of bewtween 40-80 volunteers within a six week span.  Truly amazing.  I know I speak for the core team when I say we could not appreciate more the outpouring of interest, participation and support for this effort of fighting hunger.

As we hit 1000 volunteers who receive our Fresh Juice blast every month, we look forward to an amazing winter and spring of picks, big and small, where tens of thousands of pounds of fresh fruit will be collected for LA’s hungry….If you haven’t signed up with us yet, please do – the 1003rd or 1347th is as important as the first.  We thank you all for the energy and good vibes and joining us.

Lastly, don’t forget to sign up with us on twitter: foodforwardla, and on Facebook: Food Forward as well – as this is where we sneak word of last minute picks and special events like our soon to be announced trip upon the Juicy Fruit Express….a field trip of the sort you only WISH they took you on in school

Peace, Love and May the fruit juices keep on flowing….

Rick

Fruit Bowl yields 448 lbs in Granada Hills and Northridge

Our two teams faced off in GH and Northridge yesterday for the first annual Fruit Bowl – scoring a fine 448 lbs of oranges, tangerines and lemons for SOVA…No fouls, injuries or penalties were reported…but there was some fine juicy pre and post game tailgating.

BIG PICK 3 YIELDS 10000 lbs :))

Hi Folks-

Sorry for the late posting – we have been swamped this past week.  But before the week totally got away we wanted to post a few words and photos of last weekend’s BIG PICK 3 at CSUN’s historic orange grove where over 50 volunteers burned down the last Big Pick record of 8,000 lbs with an astounding 10,000 lbs (ok 9,955) of oranges picked -over 180 boxes  - with 100% going to SOVA to feed LA’s hungry.  To top it off , this was accomplished in UNDER 4 hours – no small feat.

Weather was great, new and old volunteers worked hard but had a great time and dare I say, there is enough fruit on these trees awaiting another large scale pick this spring.

We thank you all (and a special shout out to Fred and James form SOVA for their work, and the Chromatic Films crew which recorded the day for Ovation TV) for coming out and hope you will sign up for other picks – big and small – if you have not seen FRESH JUICE for Feb take a look and book your spot!

FEBRUARY FRESH JUICE !!

We are proud to present this month’s Fresh Juice announcing February’s activities and Picks. Below are the calendared events:

2-4-10       Thursday

Event: Food Forward’s 3^rd Volunteer Meet N’ Greet
Start Time: 7:00 pm

End Time: 8:30 pm

Who: For all New, Current or Interested Volunteers
Where: SOVA 16439 Vanowen St., Van Nuys, CA 91406.  (behind the Alta Dena store)

2-6-10       Saturday – Chance of Rain (will be cancelled if raining on Sat.)

Event: San Fernando Valley Pick Citrus Pick

Start Time: 10:30 am

End Time: 12:30 pm

Where: Chatsworth

Spots available: 6

Details:  Two tangelo trees, not family friendly

2-7-10       Sunday

Event: “Fruit Bowl Pick” in Granada Hills

Start Time: 10:30 am

End Time: 12:30 pm

Where: Granada Hills

Spots available: 8

Details: Start your Super Bowl Sunday off right with the “Fruit Bowl” Pick, (4) Trees, Family friendly

2-7-10       Sunday

Event: “Fruit Bowl Pick #2” in Chatsworth or Canoga Park

Start Time: 10:30 am

End Time: 12 pm

Where: Chatsworth or Canoga Park (will be determined on Sat)

Spots available: 8

Details: We will be harvesting tangelos or tangerines which are not family friendly. Tree climbers are welcome and please wear long sleeve shirts.

2-14-10    Sunday

Event: “Love Pick” – Calling all who are in love or looking for love (singles, couples and lovebirds welcome) – come find love in the orange grove…

Start Time: 10:30 am

End Time: 12:30 pm

Where:  Franklin Canyon Orange Grove (off of Coldwater Canyon)

Spots available: 40

Details: Multiple Trees

2-21-10    Sunday

Event: “Big Pick #4”

Morning Session 9 am – 12 noon

Pot Luck Lunch 12 noon – 1 pm

Afternoon Session 1 pm – 4 pm

Where: Chatsworth

Spots available: 30 in the morning

10 in the afternoon

Details: Beautiful private estate with Multiple Trees, Pot Luck Lunch

2-28-10    Sunday –

Event: San Fernando Valley Pick Citrus Pick

Start Time: 10:30 am

End Time: 12:30 pm

Where: To be determined

Spots available:  6

Details: To follow

Please RSVP via email to CARL@FOODFORWARD.ORG with the following information to reserve your spot(s):

1)    Date of pick requested

2)    Total number of spots requested and name(s) of pickers (please include ages of children if they are under 18)

3)    Email address

4)    Cell phone # that you can be reached at or on the day of the pick

A weekend of Volunteer Outreach & Harvesting!

Last Saturday, the FF gals represented Food Forward at the City-Labs community service fair in downtown LA and got a chance to meet new, inspired angelenos who are interested in community service/volunteering and were very excited to learn about the work that Food Forward is doing here in LA to build community, harvest food and fight hunger! A big thank thanks to @sonjarasula for inviting us 2 @citylabs and great meeting the team @Causecast @sustainablework @LAFarmGirl and @Cocoxochitl – We appreciate the excitement & support and look forward to seeing our new volunteers at the 3rd Volunteer Meet N’ Greet on 2/4 or on a fruit pick soon

On Sunday, it was back to fruit picking with Food Forward volunteers harvesting 439lbs of fresh juicy grapefruit from North Hills. Thanks for all your help!

3rd Volunteer Meet N’ Greet

Hello Food Forward Volunteers & Supporters!

Food Forward is now one year old! We have achieved many amazing accomplishments that we would love to share with you. To get a chance to catch up, meet you all, introduce you to some of the work we are doing, and ways you can be involved with us, we are holding our second Volunteer Meet n’ Greet at the SOVA Food Pantry, one of our receiving partner pantries, on Thursday, February 4, 2010. They are located at 16439 Vanowen St., Van Nuys, CA 91406

We’ll start off promptly at 7pm with a short tour of this amazing facility dedicated to alleviating hunger and poverty in the community through food distribution and offering a wide range of supportive services and then give you the lowdown on Food Forward, what we are up to, what is coming up in our second year of operation. We will talk about volunteer needs we have currently, get your ideas and answer any questions about how we work and how your energy can be added to our work feeding LA’s hungry.

Please RSVP to this email or call the FF hotline: 818-530-4125 and feel free to bring a friend or two. We look forward to seeing you at SOVA!

Sincerely, The Food Forward Team

WHAT: Food Forward’s 3rd Volunteer Meet N’ Greet

WHEN: Thursday February 4TH, 2010 @ 7PM-8:30PM

WHO: For New, Current or Interested Volunteers

WHERE: SOVA 16439 Vanowen St., Van Nuys, CA 91406.

HOW: RSVP to carl@foodforward.org or 818-530-4125

Food Forward joins City-Labs!

Food Forward is very excited to join City Labs to answer the call for community service in this great city!

Please come support Food Forward and other amazing organizations here in LA all trying to strengthen the great non-profit community. With a huge rise in the need for services from non-profits, and a drastic drop in funding and donations, LA’s community organizations need our help…

Come to this fun one-day fair to browse, discover and connect with 50 local non-profits — organizations doing great things who need your support to maintain sustainability.

Imagine :: If a few thousand people each dedicate themselves to 3-5 non-profit groups (signing-up to volunteer, making donations, offering their skills, joining email lists), we’ll have created over 10,000 new volunteers and donations in just one afternoon!!!

Participating Organizations Include ::
Causecast
LA Guerrilla Gardening Heal the Bay
City Year LA
Greenpeace
LA County Bicycle Coalition
Starlight Childrens Foundation
Tree People
SPCA LA
Ciclavia
Food Forward

$5 suggested entrance donation = free drink ticket + raffle ticket!
Come early and win: The first 50 people through the doors get a notebook from Chronicle Books!

Food Forward will be at booth #5006 – we look forward to seeing you Saturday!

Date:	Saturday, January 23, 2010
Time:	11:00am – 4:00pm
Location:	California Market Center’s Penthouse
Street:	112 West 9th Street
City/Town:	Los Angeles, CA

www.city-labs.org

100000 lbs…its official

Having never had the chance to lead a group – let alone one with the energy, creativity and great spirit of Food Forward, today was humbling indeed.

As massive clouds gathered, the biggest storm system in a year on its way through LA, I awoke knowing we had a small window to get through our last picks of the final weekend of our first fiscal fruit year.  Saturday produced a fruit tear like none we had ever attempted with Erica, Carl, Marie and volunteers old and new, plus Frank from MEND, helping them pick their way through over a half dozen properties – with every single piece of fruit going to someone in need.  All setting the stage for today to take us to the very satisfying round 100,000 lb mark. Yes, dedication…and a wee bit of insanity mixed in for good measure.

It was a year ago today that myself and a lone volunteer, Karin, who had responded to an ad on Craigslist, gleaned 85 lbs of tangerines off my pal Heather’s tree in damp cold – with little idea of even how to pick the fruit, let alone how to pack it.  Today, over a dozen and a half of our core  team, new pick leaders in training, family and spouses returned to Heather’s backyard and the tree where it all began, to complete the harvesting and delivery of our fiftieth ton of fresh free fruit for the hungry of Southern CA.  Inspiring indeed.

I feel so lucky to be able to have led this amazing clan, and with them build a brand new non-profit from 2 volunteers to over 900 – in the worst economy since the great depression – all on a miniscule budget of money but an amazing surplus of human spirit.  Nearly a hundred picks under our belts – the volume, support and good will we have experienced is truly humbling…and now leads us to year two.

Big properties, new volunteers and pantry partners are all there. As we go through some (but hopefully not too drastic) growing pains and enter year two, I know I speak for Erica, Marie and Carl when I say  ”THANKS!!” to all – SOVA, MEND, our funders, volunteers, fruitanthropists, our families… for helping Food Forward truly become the community grassroots organization it now is -

Time to toast – once or twice…

Bravo Crew )

Getting fruity with Gay4Good!

Last Saturday, Food Forward had an amazing day of fruit picking with the boys and girls of Gay4Good at our Simi Valley orange pick! Together we harvested over 3,700lbs of Valencia oranges shared between MEND Poverty in Pacoima and the Jeff Griffith Youth Center in Hollywood. We look forward to collaborating with them …again soon and thank all the volunteers who came out to help harvest free fresh fruit for LA’s hungry!

New picks added to celebrate FF turning 1!

We are excited to celebrate our 1 year Anniversary this weekend and would love you to join us at one of these new picks just added today as we try and hit our goal of 100,000 lbs of fruit harvested in one fruit calendar year….

Date: Friday

Event: Oranges & Lemons

Start Time: 4:30pm

End Time: 5:30pm

Where: Valley Glen

Spots… available: 3-4

Please RSVP to carl@foodforward.org

Date: Saturday

Event: Oranges, Lemons & Grapefruit

Start Time: 10:30am – 2pm

Where: North Hollywood, Encino & Valley Glen

Spots available: 6 We will be harvesting several trees in different parts of the valley (each property will take about 45 mins) and will be starting in North Hollywood before moving on to our next tree/neighborhood. If you are able to join us at 10:30am for one tree or want to join us for a few hours for a multi-neighborhood harvest, we would love your help!

Please RSVP to carl@foodforward.org

Hope to see you soon!