Community
5 April, 2024
One tonne of fruit saved
FRUIT Rescue volunteers have reached a huge milestone this week, having collected a tonne of fruit that has been harvested in less than six months.
The volunteers have been kept busy collecting surplus fruit (that would otherwise go to waste) from public spaces and gardens to be redirected to those in need.
“The crew recently collected apples from trees at Railway Place in Koroit, and from another home, which then enabled us to reach one tonne,” Courtney Mathew, director of Fruit Rescue said.
“Reaching this milestone so quickly was proof of the need and benefits of the project, with growing demand for local emergency food relief.
“We’re so thankful to the people who have contributed to the success of this program; it’s been an amazing season with many friendships formed while doing something great for the community.”
Ms Mathew said while it was hard to imagine what one tonne of fruit even looked like, using the average Australian fruit price of $7.50 a kilo meant the group had redistributed more than $7,500 of produce within the community.
“This doesn’t even take into account the hundreds of kilos of damaged fruit we’ve shared with local wildlife parks and local farms,” Ms Mathew said.
The program, which began as a Leadership Great South Coast project, launched in November last year.
It now has a strong volunteer base, with over 80 people registered to help pick the fruit.
Dianne Membery signed up as a volunteer last December and has now taken on a role to help coordinate the harvest.
“I love that good, fresh food is not going to waste and that we can help Food Share provide fresh food to our community,” Ms Membery said.
“Picks are usually less than an hour so it’s not onerous and you can pick and chose times and dates that suit you.
“Being a harvest leader is a great way you can help our community.”
Western District Food Share executive officer Amanda Hennessey said her organisation was experiencing an increase in demand for emergency food relief services, with an additional five tonne of food distributed through its school and agency partners compared to the same time last year.
“With the cost of living crisis and financial pressure on households, we’re finding that community donations are down,” Ms Hennessey said.
“Fruit Rescue has been fantastic with large donations of apricots, apples, pears, plums which go straight into our emergency food hampers and out to our community meal partners and schools for their fresh fruit programs.”
As the fruit season begins to wind down, there are no plans to curb the momentum the Fruit Rescue team has started.
The team is now investigating a community olive collection, in a trial to press into olive oil.
It is hoped people would be able to drop their olive harvest off to be weighed and then receive back the percentage of their contribution as oil.
This is planned for late May or early June.
Next harvest season, the group will deliver free preserving workshops to community members in the hope of creating a crew of people who can turn the fruit into a range of food products.
Anyone interested in helping Fruit Rescue can phone 0481 505 415.
