“Grow Some, Keep Some, Give Some Away”
Why Project Pick?
According to Cindy Houts, former Executive Director of the Alameda Food Bank (AFB), since January 2022 the Alameda Food Bank has enrolled 800 new families and the demographics are changing. They are now seeing more families with kids, more senior citizens and even more people who are employed full-time but still can't make ends meet. In addition, food costs are rising and the AFB is spending 12% more than last year on food for their clients.
Project Pick has provided the AFB with fresh, free backyard produce since 2011:
2011 - 996 pounds of fruit
2012 - 2,327 pounds
2013 - 5,202 lbs (approximately 1 pound of fresh fruit for each person using the Alameda Food Bank resources)
2014 - 3,296
2015 - 2,661
2016 - 3,323
2017 - 2,830
2018 - 4,486
2019 - 7,504
2020 - 8,143 BEST YEAR EVER
2021 - 7,041
2022 - 8,032 SECOND BEST YEAR EVER!
2023 - 6,737
Over 62,000 pounds (over 31 tons) of fruit donated in total!
Food Insecurity
Our local statistics are in line with national trends. According to USDA findings, an estimated 12.7 percent of American households were food insecure at least some time during the year in 2015, meaning they lacked access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. During the pandemic, the Alameda Food Bank (AFB) faced a nearly tenfold increase in clients after the pandemic hit, going from serving about 800 families each month to up to 1,800 each week!
Wasted Food
At the same time 30-40% of the food produced in the United States is wasted — either thrown out by supermarkets or consumers or left to rot in fields because the cost to harvest it would exceed what the farmer could make selling it. Fruit from trees often goes to waste either because there is too much of it in a short space of time to be used or because the tree’s owner doesn’t have the ability or the time to harvest it.
With Project Pick We Can Make a Difference!
An established fruit tree can often produce 100+ pounds of fruit, far more than one family can consume. If you have a fruit tree that produces more fruit than you can use, why not donate the excess to the Alameda Food Bank’s Perishable Food Program and help make a difference in the lives of your neighbors? A little or a lot — it’s all valuable and helps reduce the amount of perfectly good food going to waste in America. Read an article about Project Pick published in the Alameda Sun here.
Ways You Can Help
ABG is one of just a few organizations currently allowed to donate fresh produce to the Food Bank. Individual donations are not currently accepted. Donating 50 pounds of a fruit like apples, for example, can save the Food Bank roughly $200 they would have to spend to buy the fruit.
1) You Pick & We Deliver
You can harvest your tree yourself and then email info@alamedabackyardgrowers.org or leave a voice mail at 510-239-PICK (7425) and we will pick up your fruit and deliver it to the Alameda Food Bank for you. We generally deliver on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, so please consider picking on Sunday, Tuesdays or Thursdays. Remember to keep the harvested fruit in a shady location that is also accessible to the ABG volunteer. Finally, please place the fruit in containers that you do not want returned to you (double paper grocery bags, cardboard boxes that one person can lift, or strong plastic bags). For helpful guidelines on picking fruit, please click here.
2) We Pick & Deliver
We can harvest your tree for you and deliver the excess fruit to the Alameda Food Bank on your behalf. Please list information about your tree by filling out a brief form. You can also leave a message at 510-239-PICK with your name, location and best way to contact you. Volunteers are happy to pick some of the fruit for you as well if you are unable to harvest it for yourself.
