From a massive grapefruit tree from English Turn, volunteers for the New Orleans Fruit Tree Project picked 500 pounds of fruit without even getting on a ladder. All of it went to charity. The concept is simple, founder Megan Nuismer said. “You need a truck and some ladders,” she said, calling the year-old Fruit Tree Project “very Robin Hood-y,” because it spreads the wealth of the city’s citrus harvest to those who couldn’t otherwise afford fresh fruit.
So far, the project has about three-dozen “registered” trees, often in the backyards of elderly people who can’t climb ladders anymore or other homeowners who “inherited” a tree but can use only a portion of the tree’s fruit or find it a hassle to pick.
Typically, volunteers harvest 100 to 300 pounds of citrus per otherwise-unpicked trees. They then haul the bounty to nearby food pantries, health clinics and nonprofit organizations like the Latino Farmers Cooperative.
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bullygrl reblogged this from defendneworleans and added:
I love this story...so many reasons. First,...do-goodness...
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