{"id":104698,"date":"2025-11-06T11:09:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.seattleschild.com\/?p=104698"},"modified":"2025-11-06T11:09:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:09:50","slug":"seattle-city-fruit-harvest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seattleschild.com\/seattle-city-fruit-harvest\/","title":{"rendered":"Too much tree fruit in your yard?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The idea of owning fruit trees can be appealing. But what happens when the fruit drops faster than you can pick it, littering your yard and rotting there?<\/p>\n

Enter City Fruit<\/a>. The Seattle-based nonprofit harvests fruit from public and private orchards, distributing it to more than 30 food banks, meal programs, and schools. That effort increases access to healthy food while reducing food waste. The organization was founded in 2008 by Gail Savina, who galvanized volunteers to collect Seattle\u2019s donated surplus fruit. Turns out, apple, Asian pear, and pear trees are particularly abundant in the city, with homeowners at a loss as to what to do with such bounty.<\/p>\n

In 2024, City Fruit harvested more than 28,500 pounds of fruit, which equates to about 90,000 servings of quality fruit distributed to community partners. \u201cWe\u2019re treating people with dignity and respect, and giving them fruit that\u2019s going to be good quality for them to enjoy,\u201d says City Fruit Executive Director Emily Tomita. \u201cIt\u2019s filling my deep-rooted Asian auntie instinct to want to feed people all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime I get to do a delivery, it reminds me why our work is important,\u201d Tomita adds. \u201cWe\u2019re not solving the hunger crisis, but we are able to bring joy to people in a nutritious way, and that is really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

True to City Fruit\u2019s mission, even second-quality produce doesn\u2019t get wasted. The organization sells approximately 10,000 pounds of fruit annually at low prices to businesses, such as Seattle Cider and Greenwood Cider. Some partners donate a portion of their sales back to City Fruit, while others make a flat donation.<\/p>\n

City Fruit\u2019s tree specialists help fund the effort by providing tree assessments, creating action plans for care, and pruning fruit trees \u2014 services that reflect the organization\u2019s mission to steward urban fruit trees.<\/p>\n

As federal assistance continues to dry up, the work of City Fruit is more crucial than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear a lot from our food bank partners about how important having a service like City Fruit is,\u201d Tomita says. \u201cThe fact that they can offer fruit for free in bulk is a huge value-add.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are in a far more precarious position financially than we\u2019ve seen in recent years, and the demand for food \u2014 for nutrition support \u2014 has already started increasing with our partners. We expect it to continue to grow,\u201d Tomita adds.<\/p>\n

Learn how to help: cityfruit.org<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City Fruits is eager and ready to harvest it for a very good cause<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1947,"featured_media":104701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,339,1024,353],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-do-good","category-donate-volunteer","category-take-action"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSeattle\u2019s City Fruit: Harvest Surplus Trees & Help Neighbors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"City Fruit in Seattle turns surplus fruit into free food for schools, food banks, and meal programs. 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