Come Spend Your Day With Us!
Volunteers are an integral part of our food distribution and help bring our mission to life! Whether you have a half day or a full day to spare, we could use and appreciate your help.
GLEANING
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Thank you for your interest in gleaning! We are resuming our gleaning program, but some areas of Riverside and San Bernardino counties may still be affected by the Oriental Fruit Fly. See if your property is no longer affected here.
If your property is affected, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) recommends not removing fruits from homes or farms to reduce the spread of the pest. We are staying up-to-date and will update this page when we can fully resume our gleaning program. Learn more about the Oriental Fruit Fly and the quarantine zone at the links below:
If you have any questions our gleaning program, please contact our Volunteer Team Phone at (951) 396-0009 or email our Volunteer Services Supervisor, Luis Molina at lmolina@feedingamericaie.org.
Have extra produce on your property?
Looking to donate to the community?
What is Gleaning?
According to the USDA, gleaning is the act of collecting excess fresh foods from farms, gardens, farmers' markets, grocers, or any other sources to provide nutritious foods to communities in need. When our neighboring properties begin to overflow at the peak of the harvest season, FARSB sends a group of volunteers to "glean" the site. Our volunteers pick the fruits or vegetables and place them into produce bags to be sent to the food bank. Later, this produce is distributed at no cost to families in need through FARSB's hunger relief programs.
What are the benefits?
This past year, FARSB diverted 9,878 pounds of produce from going to the landfill and distributed it to surrounding partners. Gleaning not only provides access to fresh and nutritious foods to low-income populations but also:
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Prevents the unnecessary waste of quality food.
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Closes the gap to access to healthy, local foods because of cost or availability.
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Provides resources to nonprofit agencies, many of whom have shrinking staff capacity and budgets due to the economic climate, so that they might better serve those in need.
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Builds good relations between community members, local gardeners, and farmers.
What can you do?
If you have a property needing gleaning, please contact our Volunteer Team Phone at (951) 396-0009 or email our Volunteer Services Supervisor, Luis Molina at lmolina@feedingamericaie.org. Alternatively, you can fill out the interest form below, and we will contact you!
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Available Shifts
If you're interested in volunteering at a gleaning site, see the available shifts below. Gleaning opportunities vary based on the season and the current produce, with shifts available on demand. If there are no shifts available at the moment, please check back in the near future.