City Fruit Seattle

City Fruit serves individuals and families in Seattle experiencing food insecurity by providing organic, healthy fruit that is often not available at food banks and meal programs. Through City Fruit’s Harvest Program, they harvest thousands of pounds of market-ready fruit from private and public fruit trees and distribute this locally-grown fruit through partnerships with more than 25 food banks, meal programs, and community partners, and through their Fruit-For-All free fruit farm stands, where they provide fruit directly to the public. City Fruit promotes the stewardship of public orchards through their Community Outreach and Education Program. Annually, City Fruit serves about 25,000 Seattle residents, harvesting roughly 40,000 pounds of quality fruit from June to December. Through City Fruit’s Tree Care Services Program, their Tree Care Specialist provides pruning, mulching, and pest management services to local tree owners, ensuring Seattle’s fruit trees stay healthy year-round. Since City Fruit’s start in 2008, they have worked with public lands managers, the City of Seattle, and private tree owners to steward fruit trees to cultivate an abundance of fresh, quality fruit. Collectively, City Fruit’s programs unite the community in a shared effort to reduce food insecurity by protecting the health of local fruit trees, increasing the accessibility of locally harvested fruit, and cultivating knowledge of and connection to public orchards.

In late 2013, City Fruit was chosen to take part in Harvest Against Hunger’s Harvest VISTA program. This AmeriCorps position deviated from the traditional Harvest VISTA. Instead of working directly with farms or meal program recipients, the AmeriCorps member served as a Community Outreach Coordinator. In 2021, City Fruit participated in Harvest Against Hunger for a second time, hosting an AmeriCorps Fundraising and Development Specialist VISTA to support grant writing, individual giving, and special events for the next three years. The goal of City Fruit’s current VISTA program is to increase annual funding, strengthening the sustainability of the organization so they can serve the Seattle community for years to come.