Village Harvest

Village Harvest is a volunteer organization that brings people together to make a difference in lives and their community. Enthusiastic volunteers pick abundant fruit from hundreds of homes and small orchards each year for people in need, and we help tree owners donate fruit they pick themselves.

This Tuesday, as they do almost every week, one of our teams of 15 volunteers will gather for a harvest of 5 homes in San Jose. The morning will be filled with the laughter of friends, the sight of bright oranges against dark green leaves, and the weight of buckets loaded with freshly picked lemons, oranges, and other fruits of the season. By noon another 1,500 pounds or more will fill huge bins destined for the food bank.

In 2015, one thousand volunteers picked a total of nearly 200,000 pounds, enough healthy, local, sustainable fruit from our gardens to help feed tens of thousands of children, families, and seniors through food banks.

Hunger affects more than 1 in 10 people in Silicon Valley, yet our suburban landscape is filled with fruit trees producing tens of millions of pounds every year. What if all this natural abundance could reduce hunger and improve health, rather than going mostly to waste?

Since our founding 15 years ago volunteers have harvested an amazing 2 million pounds of healthy fresh fruit benefitting hundreds of thousands. All through the power of a simple idea, magnified by the community spirit and sharing of thousands of tree owners and volunteers.

As one grateful senior told us, “these wonderful volunteers take the fruit off, the fruit goes to people who need it, and our trees grow better every year.”

And as we learned from a mother at a food pantry, the oranges she received mean more than food; they can be a pathway to a better life:

“my son is no longer as sick in the winter and can stay in school, I don’t have to take time off from work, and we have more to make ends meet.”

Thank you for helping Village Harvest continue to serve. Community support funds the equipment, transportation, organizing staff, and other expenses that keep our small budget but high impact organization going and growing.

To learn more, share your extra fruit, or volunteer visit www.villageharvest.org or call us at (888) FRUIT 411.