Big Pick #7 Results Are In!

Big Pick #7 results are in!! This morning at CSUN’s Orange Grove, just over 4500 lbs were harvested by FF volunteers, all going in to the hands of those in need in the coming days! A HUGE thank you to everyone who volunteered out in the heat today!

New Fruits and lots of juice!

The last few weeks, our fruit loops have been busy harvesting fruit, fruit and more fruit all over Los Angeles to help feed the hungry and June is off to a great start!

Just before Memorial Day, we had a huge harvesting weekend in Northridge & Sylmar which brought in over 2,000lbs of grapefruit, oranges & lemons… The fruit loops were off for the long holiday weekend and then back in Sherman Oaks this past week for more grapefruits.

Today was Day 1 of our juicy fruit weekend bonanza with JF & CQ harvesting our very first blood oranges (Sylmar) and apples (Reseda), and more lemons & grapefruits bringing in a total of 526lbs going today to MEND!

Just a little warm up for the BIG PICK #7 tomorrow at CSUN!

A BIG thanks to all the volunteers who join us on our weekly picks and support us in so many ways and we look forward to seeing you all in a tree soon!

Looking for fruit trees in LA!

If you live in LA and have healthy fruit trees (or in a neighborhood that does), please get in touch with us as Food Forward will participate in Big Sunday on May 1st and 2nd – the LARGEST volunteer event in all of Southern California.

We will be harvesting fruit trees in neighborhoods across LA, so we invite you, your friends, family and/or neighbors to take part in this incredible event by being a FRUIT DONOR.

What does it entail? You just sit there while a few of our (fully insured) volunteers do all the work of picking, schlepping and hauling – Sure you might offer us some lemonade or an off color joke to keep our spirits up, but honestly all you need to do is agree to take part and you will received a TAX DONATION RECEIPT for EVERY POUND WE HARVEST. Quite the deal, we know, so don’t tell too many people…better yet, tell everyone including your neighbors!

More importantly, please call us at 818-530-4125 or email Erica our Harvesting/Property Coordinator at erica@foodforward.org – to let us know you are on-board – and while you are at it, check out the great work we do and numerous press stories on us at our website: FOODFORWARD.ORG.

You will be proud to be part of our growing family of FRUITANTHROPISTS – now over 150 strong and growing weekly!

CLIMB ABOARD THE JUICY FRUIT EXPRESS….

We are pleased to announce our first field trip on the JUICY FRUIT EXPRESS!

What is the JUICY FRUIT EXPRESS?  It is a vegetable oil run bus that will take 40 of us to an amazing citrus orchard in Bakersfield for a huge orange pick and BBQ on Saturday, March 6th.  We will be partnering with the Community Action Partnership of Kern/Partnership Food Bank in Bakersfield for the event, who will receive 100% of the fruit harvested that day to help feed the hungry. Tickets are only $20.00 per person – this includes your seat on the bus and all food, drinks and refreshments for the day (we will leave from a San Fernando Valley location at 8:00 AM and have you back around 6-6:30 PM that night).

This will be a field trip like no other and will sell out FAST!  [NOTE: SINCE BEING ANNOUNCED on 2/10 WE ARE ALREADY HALF FULL]

So Please RSVP via email to CARL@FOODFORWARD.ORG asap with the following information:

1)    Total number of spots requested and name(s) of pickers

2)    Email address

3)    Your contact phone number

To secure your spot on the Juicy Fruit Express, please send a check or money order for $20.00/person made out to “Food Forward” to the following address:

Food Forward

P.O. Box 48818

Los Angeles, CA 90048

Please note that your spot(s) WILL NOT BE 100% reserved until a check is received.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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 :))

Winter fruit harvesting in Sunny LA!

Sunday’s fruit picks in Northridge and Valley Glen yield 781lbs of fresh navel oranges, lemons, grapefruit and tangerines to help feed LA’s hungry! Thanks to all the volunteers who came out with great energy – it was a beautiful winter day for fruit harvesting 🙂

BIG PICK 3 @ CSUN’s Orange Grove is coming up on 1/31/10 – a few spots remain – RSVP carl@foodforward.org

Interested in leadership opportunities with Food Forward? We have a winter full of small & BIG picks and would love your help! Email info@foodforward.org to learn more….

First Pick of 2010!

Our first pick of 2010 brings in 2,164 lbs of fresh fruit 4 LA’s hungry! FF volunteers harvested avocadoes, valencia oranges, lemons, tangelos, navel oranges and grapefruits in Tarzana, N. Hollywood and Pasadena – all donated to SOVA/JFS…

A big thanks to all the volunteers who came out and a very special thanks to all 3 homeowners: Nina, Dave & Julian,  Marjorie and Packard for welcoming us at their homes and helping us make Food Forward’s first pick of the new year such a success!

A fruit harvest like no other!

Last Sunday, a dozen or so FF volunteers joined Backyard Bounty at a private orchard in Santa Barbara to pick and box over 7,000lbs of Seedless Grade A Mandarin Oranges which were shared amongst several pantries and locations – all across So CAL! A big shoutout of THANKS to Jim and Backyard Bounty for inviting FF to join in the harvesting and to all the FF volunteers who made it up 2 Santa Barbara to help. Amazing work!

Our last fruit pick of 2009 will be this coming Sunday 12/27 in Santa Barbara as we have been invited back for one more day of fruit harvesting (we call it FRUIT RESCUE) 🙂

Grab a friend, family member (only 18 and over – sorry!) and join us between 9:30am and 2:00pm this Sunday as every hand will make a huge difference! You can pick/sort/box for a few hours, then go wine tasting or playing in downtown SB…we need you – the fruit needs you – hungry families need you! RSVP to carl@foodforward.org

Tripleheader Fruit Picking Weekend

An amazing tripleheader of fruit picks last weekend brings in over 2,000 lbs of fresh fruit (valencia oranges, mandarin oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes & persimmons) and garden herbs (rosemary, basil and oregano) all to feed LA’s hungry! We harvested trees in Glendale, Studio City and Granada Hills and had over 40 volunteers join us so a BIG thanks to all who picked with us… We look forward to seeing you at the BIG PICK 3 this coming Sunday 12/13 at the CSUN Orange Grove! Please keep telling your friends, family and co-workers who might have fruit trees about Food Forward as we do need more trees… THANKS!

Thanksgiving Holiday Quick Pick

Last Sunday’s holiday quick pick in North Hollywood yielded 146 lbs of ripe grapefruits and oranges! A big thanks to all volunteers for their strong enthusiasm and efforts to get every last piece of ripe fruit!

Please check back here on our blog and on Facebook (group: food forward) /Twitter (foodforwardla) for continued blasts about new picks and events being announced throughout the month!