Delta’s Earthwise Society is looking for volunteers to help harvest surplus fruit and distribute it to families in need.
As the lead agency in the Delta Food Coalition (DFC), a network of community groups working together to help decrease hunger, increase local food security and improve the overall nutritional health in our community, Earthwise has co-ordinated the DFC’s Shared Harvest program in South Delta for the past five years, and is now expanding it to service North Delta for the first time.
Shared Harvest is a food security initiative which reaches out to homeowners who have excess fruit in their yards and gardens but are not able to harvest it all. Program volunteers help pick the fruit which would otherwise go to waste, and sharing some of the collected produce with the homeowners and volunteers, and Earthwise distributes the rest to local families in need.
The DFC also works with the local farm community to distribute excess farm produce to those in need.
“Tonnes of edible food is thrown into Metro Vancouver landfills every year,” Earthwise Society said in a press release. “Through this program, thousands of pounds of fruit in Delta can be harvested annually and put on the tables of needy families.”
Noting the abundance of ripe fruit trees around North Delta, the society says it needs help from the community in order to keep up with the supply.
“Volunteers may commit as much time as they would like. Everything makes a difference,” the society said.
Anyone interested in volunteering is asked to contact the Earthwise Society at info@earthwisesociety.bc.ca.
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editor@northdeltareporter.com
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