Other than the occasional persimmon and kiwi harvests here and there (and fingers crossed for pawpaws!), the 2020 harvest season is all but done. When we look back on this unprecedented year, it’s hard not to focus on the many challenges we faced due to the pandemic. But we would be terribly remiss if we forgot to highlight how we were still able to make meaningful connection within our community through sharing fruit, thanks largely to our community partners.
Our work has always been deeply grounded in our community – the people, the changing landscape of our city, and coalitions of local organizations that work tirelessly to create positive pathways towards building resilient, equitable community where everyone has access to healthy, nutritious food. We cannot do our work alone, and we are honored to work alongside them.
Going into this year’s harvest season, we knew there was more urgent need for fresh fruit due to the pandemic. We also saw many of our community partners quickly respond to the growing needs in our community with their dedication, ingenuity and resourcefulness. It is time like these when our partnerships can create meaningful impact in the community that we serve.
This year, we got to work with the following amazing community partners who helped us share our fruit with the community.
Food bank and meal program partners:
- Ballard Food Bank
- Byrd Barr Place
- El Centro de la Raza
- FamilyWorks Food Bank
- Jewish Family Services Food Bank
- North Helpline Emergency Services & Food Bank
- Queen Anne Food Bank
- Rainier Valley Food Bank
- Seattle Community Fridge
- Seattle Community Kitchen Collective / Feed the People
- University District Food Bank
- West Seattle Food Bank
- White Center Food Bank
- YWCA Food Bank
Other community partner highlights:
- Department of Neighborhoods P-Patch Market Gardens— we partnered with the P-Patch gardeners and hosted 8 out of 12 Fruit for All Pop-ups at the NewHolly and High Point Community Gardens. Together, we shared thousands of pounds of FREE fresh fruit and veggies with nearly 500 community members.
- FareStart— FareStart scaled up their community and school meal programs this year to meet the growing needs due to the pandemic. FareStart crew also signed up for two orchard work parties and helped harvest fruit this fall.
- Rainier Beach Action Coalition— we provided fresh Seattle-grown fruit for their weekly farm stand that provided FREE fresh produce for the neighborhood every Saturday during the season.
- Tilth Alliance— Tilth Alliance’s new farm stand offered seasonal, organic, and sustainably grown produce from local farms, including our fruit, on a pay-what-you-can basis.
Harvest with FareStart at the Danny Woo Community Garden (Photo by Shekinah San Jose)
Additional community partners we provided orchard care and harvest support to: