As a Summer Associate Harvest VISTA for City Fruit, Ife has been committed to fulfilling their mission. With the team, Ife has been able to harvest thousands of pounds of fruit in a single week and donate it all to food banks, cideries, and organizations that can process buggier fruit in order to make apple sauces, baked goods, and other food items that are pleasant to consume. The team also gave away fruit through City Fruit’s recurring Fruit-For-All events! (For more on Fruit-For-Alls, read Ife’s fellow City Fruit Summer Associate, Kaitlyn’s blog post here.)
Through the last 10 weeks Ife has been able to successfully increase the amount of fruit harvested and collected from trees by teaming up with colleagues to ensure harvests are finished in a quicker time frame, build community and trust with tree owners by making phone calls discussing tree harvests, and ensure fruit be distributed amongst communities partners. As a result of their work, the harvest team has been able to feed hundreds of people nourishing fresh fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste.
When Ife is not on the clock, they try to take time to enjoy the more simple things in life. Ife enjoys reading, arts & crafts, spending time outdoors, going for scenic walks with their housemates, and vibing out to some good tunes. Cudjo is one of Ife’s furry feline companions; they also love spending time with him to make sure he is receiving his daily dose of affection. Ife loves to expand their world in any way they can. They are always open to new ideas, ways of thinking, living, and perspectives. Life is all about expansion to them.