Fruit Share SPRING 2012
The Latest from Fruit Share
SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST Fruit Share opens in Steinbach! Over 7,300lbs of fruit rescued and shared in 2011. New Scheduling System being developed. Volunteer Opportunities
Phenomenal Growth in 2011 Phenomenal! That’s the best way to describe the incredible year we had last year. Here’s a quick look at the stats from last year. Category
2010
2011
% Change
Pounds of Fruit Harvested
1,694 lbs
7,386 lbs
436%
Number of Harvests
20
97
485%
Number of Volunteers
10
201
2,001%
Number of Home Owners
28
153
546%
Number of Chari es Donated To
6
19
316%
Number of Neighbourhoods
1
11
1,110%
Number of Workshops
0
6
600%
Amount of Fruit Composted
~500
~2000lbs
400%
Prairie Fruit Cookbook Launch CONTACT
Growing from 10 to 200 volunteers in one summer was quite an experience and certainly kept us on our toes. As a result, our organizational goals for 2012, are to build more efficient systems, create a governing structure and consider self-funding options that will allow us to continue to grow, share and rescue more fruit throughout Manitoba.
www.FruitShare.ca
As far as fruit rescuing goes, our targets for 2012 are 9,500 pounds of fruit based on 300 volunteers, 200 fruit owners and 130 picks throughout Winnipeg and Steinbach.
info@fruitshare.ca
Fruit Share Expands to Steinbach
Ph: 204-272-8520 Wpg Ph: 204-326-3919 Stbch Facebook: www.facebook.com/ FruitShareMB Twitter: @FruitShareMB
Thanks to the coordina on and ini a ve of Rebecca Hiebert and the South Eastman Transi on Ini ave, Fruit Share now has a Steinbach branch. Steinbach and area residents can now sign up their fruit and register as volunteer pickers on the main Fruit
Share site. Throughout the summer, they will receive no fica on of Steinbach specific picks. They also have a local number they can contact if they have any ques ons or concerns (204-326-3919). Fruit Share is happy to share as many resources,
systems and processes as possible to make it easy and prac cal for more communi es like Steinbach to join. All it takes is a small group of people to help coordinate the promo on, recruitment and scheduling of picks in a par cular community.
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You’re Invited to the Prairie Fruit Book Launch Monday, April 30, 7:00pm McNally Robinson, Grant Park The Prairie Fruit Cookbook ‐ The Essen al Guide for Picking, Preserv‐ ing and Preparing Fruit is a defini ve reference for 11 prairie fruits, including: apples, crab apples, grapes, pears, plums, apricots, cherries, raspberries, rhubarb, saskatoons and strawberries. The book is wri en by Fruit Share founder Ge y Stewart who spent the last year crea ng, tes ng and photographing recipes and preserves. The result is a colourful reference filled with prac cal ps and meless advice on harves ng, preserving and cooking fruit. It offers more than 150 tested recipes and techniques, including old fashioned favourites like rhubarb crisp and strawberry shortcake, and inspired new dishes like chai plum jam, apple couscous and saskatoon salsa salad. The official book launch is being held at McNally Robinson at Grant Park at 7:00pm on Monday, April 30.
“Look deep
The book sells for $19.95 plus tax at McNally’s, Sage Garden Herbs, St. Mary’s Nursery and Garden Centre and online at www.prairiefruit.ca.
into nature and you will
A por on of profits will be donated to Fruit Share.
understand
Planning Team
everything.” Albert Einstein
Thank you to the Winnipeg Foundation for funding in 2011. FRUIT
SHARE
Thank you to the amazing people who are volunteering their me, talent and energy to build Fruit Share. Together, the team has submi ed funding proposals, worked with Prac cum Students from the U of M on various projects, a ended conferences and
events to promote Fruit Share, updated promo onal material and the website, created a new scheduling system, brainstormed funding ideas, contacted poten al volunteers, updated our database, promoted Fruit Share in their neighbourhoods and made plans for the year ahead.
They are the true champions of Fruit Share. Ka e Anderson Chris MacKinnon Sheila Reed Summer Hansell Rebecca Hiebert Robyn Webb Sagan Morrow Karen Sturgeon Evan Bowness Ge y Stewart
SPRING
2012
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New Pick Scheduling Process for 2012 We are excited about improvements to the fruit scheduling process. Here’s a quick overview: Step 1 – Fruit Owners and Volunteer Pickers register on the Fruit Share website. Step 2 – About 1 week before the fruit is ripe, Fruit Owners complete a Harvest Request Form lis ng their preferences including a specific picking date and me. Step 3 – Fruit Share gathers all Harvest Request Forms and sends out one weekly email to all volunteers with all possible picks for their city/town. If picks aren’t filled, a follow-up email may be sent. Step 4 – Volunteers select which pick they want to par cipate in. Step 5 – Volunteers and Fruit Owners are sent a confirma on of the scheduled pick. Step 6 – Volunteers show up at the designated me and place and work together to harvest the fruit, clean the site, split the fruit and deliver 1/3 to a community organiza on. Step 7 – Volunteers submit informa on about the harvest to Fruit Share. Step 8 – Fruit Share keeps track of stats and updates the database. Step 9 – Repeat un l no more fruit is available. Throughout the process the Fruit Share Coordinator and Neighbourhood Leaders will assist with any ques ons or concerns that may arise. Once the process is finalized and harvest season arrives, we’ll provide more detailed instruc ons for Fruit Owners and Volunteer Pickers.
More Volunteer Opportunities The Great Apple Peel Off at the Osborne South Street Fes val
If you want to get involved beyond dona ng or picking fruit, here are a few other volunteer opportuni es that are available. If you’re interested email info@fruitshare.ca. Public Events Volunteers
System Buddy Volunteers
Neighbourhood Leaders
Help us promote Fruit Share by a ending conferences, tradeshow, street fes vals or community events where we can put up a display, answer ques ons and pass out informa on to recruit fruit owners and volunteer pickers.
We’d like to create a buddy system for Volunteer Pickers who want to par cipate in picks but don’t have access to email. A System Buddy Volunteer would be responsible for phoning their non-email buddy with pick informa on and then comple ng the pick forms online on their behalf.
We are more successful in a neighbourhood if we have Neighourhood Leaders who know their ‘hood. Neighbourhood Leaders help us promote, recruit and coordinate picks in their neighbourhood. We’re looking for leaders in neighbourhoods like St. Vital, Transcona, Charleswood, St. James, and rural communi es.
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Help Promote Fruit Share The more we get word out about Fruit Share, the more successful we’ll be. Word of mouth, no ces in neighbourhood newsle ers, announcements at local events and bulle n board posters in community places has been the best way to spread the word about Fruit Share. There are several ways you can help spread the word. On our website under the Flyers tab you’ll find several different promo onal pieces:
Got Fruit? - drop these in mailboxes where you see unpicked fruit (cut to get 3 per page)
Black and White Poster - send this file to any newsle
ers that circulate in your neighbourhood (neighbourhood associa on, garden society, church, community club, or company newsle er)
Colour Poster - hang these posters in community places where people are likely to see them (church, community club, garden plot, grocery store, etc.) We hope you won't mind prin ng just a few copies on your printer to help get word out. Later this summer, if we’re successful in ge ng funding, we may be able to print some to distribute.
Fruit Share at Growing Local Conference Volunteers, Darby Jones and Getty Stewart facilitated a workshop called “Bushels of Apples” at the 2012 Growing Local Conference put on by Food Matters Manitoba. In this photo of the workshop, Fruit Share volunteer and conference participant, Katie Anderson, is demonstrating how easy, fun and deliciously rewarding using Darby’s homemade cider press can be. If you’re interested in purchasing a pre-assembled cider press, send us an email and we’ll connect you with Darby - our cider press specialist. Presses are $75.
Want to keep up to date with more news from Fruit Share? Sign up for our blog, twitter or facebook page for regular updates: Blog:
www.FruitShare.ca (top right corner)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FruitShareMB Twitter: @FruitShareMB