I continue to be amazed and very proud to be living in this community of ours. We as a community are making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. Another example of this caring can be seen in the Gleeful Gleaners. In June of this year they formed a  partnership with Good Cheer to help reduce food insecurity. The group is looking to connect with people who are willing to share their extra non-sprayed fruit and bring it to  people in need.

Gleaning is the term for collecting food that would otherwise go to waste.

“I don’t like to waste our natural resources,” said Margaret Moore of Clinton. “When I drive around every fall, I see lots of fruit falling to the ground.”

“At a time when food is getting more expensive and Good Cheer’s donations are down, we wanted to find a way to capture that precious asset and have fun doing it.”

Good Cheer has tried in the past to respond to offers of donated fruit, but has had difficulty mustering the manpower to do the picking. We’re always grateful when community members have a good idea, and then do all the legwork, too! That’s exactly what they’ve done.

Healthy eating is our main focus and now we’ll have more fresh fruit to give to our clients. This is a wonderful complement to the Good Cheer Garden and another blessing from the people of this community.

On South Whidbey, Moore was joined by Nancy Snow and A.T. Birmingham-Young of Langley, and Kathy Deveau of Freeland, and the four set about developing their concept.

People all over the world are creating projects to harvest and share extra fruit from backyard trees. The Gleeful Gleaners envision  a future in which all fruit trees are cared for and harvested and where fruit withering on the tree or rotting on the ground is a thing of the past. You can click here to read an article on gleaning in the New York Times.

The group is looking for worm-free fruit from non-sprayed trees, and will gladly accept donated harvested fruit to go along with what the volunteers pick. They actually scout the neighborhoods and knock on doors in support of their program.

I’m sure that the community will be willing to support their efforts and warm hearts!

Why Bother?

We’ll help get local, healthy food to the members of our community in need of it.

We’ll enjoy the pleasure of a convivial outing with a team of like-minded people.

We’ll reduce the sanitation and pest problems unharvested fruit can lead to.

We’ll use, rather than waste, a valuable resource. It just makes sense.

We’ll have some fun while doing some good!

What Can You Do?

Share fruit! If you have a tree with more fruit than you can use, let us know, and we’ll see if we can help you harvest it.

Volunteer as a tree donor.

Help harvest! They are also looking for people to harvest, transport, or process food for distribution or to give or lend fruit-picking equipment (ladders, fruit pickers, and bags).

Volunteer to help with the harvest.

You can learn more by visiting their site by clicking here.

Good Cheer!