How it all started...
Please listen to the KGO radio interview. It is still available on the
Salvation Army of Concord's website, and at
http://www.kgoradio.com/. In one month's time, I had knocked on over 50 neighbors' doors, collected approximately 2,000 pounds of fresh fruit and delivered it to local pantries such as the
Salvation Army and
Monument Crisis Center. I have since learned of another nearby food pantry called
SHARE on Willow Pass Road in Concord.
The best way for volunteers to make a difference in their own community is to create their own projects independently of mine. Talk to your friends and family about fresh fruit and vegetable donations. If you are comfortable knocking on doors, introduce yourself and make new friends with your neighbors who own fruit trees. Collect and deliver produce directly to the local food pantries. If you have email and contacts through work, church, or other civic groups, spread the word. Share my website if you wish,
http://www.thelemonlady.blogspot.com/. You cannot imagine how many folks still don't know to donate fresh fruits or vegetables to a nearby food pantry.
I have learned this by spending countless hours writing letters to churches, civic groups, and others to print mention of The Lemon Lady or the fact that excess produce is accepted at local food pantries.
Churches can be very helpful if they would print mention in their weekly bulletin. What better way to serve our community than bringing fresh, healthy produce directly to the needy? Think outside the can or box, think FRESH!
Hopefully, churches and other civic groups will catch on and write about it. For that matter, anyone that prints a newsletter or bulletin. Afterall, that is what the
thoughtful journalists have been doing all along...writing about the hunger cause. Keeping the word out there to increase awareness about something so wonderful, easy and free.
I assure you there are hundreds of thousands of pounds of fruit ripening on trees throughout Clayton, Concord, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Orinda, Lafayette, Danville, Alamo, San Ramon and the entire West Coast. California is a utopia of freshly grown, wild fruit in abundance.
Please feel free to contact me by email anytime. I welcome the opportunity to brainstorm for ideas together.
Thank you for being inspired to create your own project that helps bring fresh fruits and vegetables to the hungry of our community.
Sincerely,
The Lemon Lady
P.S.
Another thought...please visit the
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, and read the
Food Bank Blogspot, its a separate blog.
All hunger relief outfits depend greatly on volunteers to organize, sort, and distribute food to the hungry. Very impressive is that
SHARE Food Pantry on Willow Pass Road has been in operation for over 20 years, and they are totally volunteer staffed, no paid employees!
