By Ayushi Das
Southern California is known for its incredible citrus – oranges, kumquats, lemons, all home-grown and distributed within the state. It’s common to see sidewalks in the San Fernando Valley littered with rotting fruit from nearby citrus trees. Yet despite the abundance of citrus growth, food insecurity is a pressing issue in Los Angeles.
Food Forward is a Los Angeles-based organization aiming to fight hunger and reduce food waste. What distinguishes Food Forward from other food insecurity non-profits is the backyard harvest program, otherwise known as gleaning.
“We started the gleaning program in 2009,” said Ally Forest, Senior Manager of Community Programs. “Volunteers harvest produce from everything be it a single tree in their backyard to commercial orchards or community gardens.”
Forest is responsible for engaging the wider Los Angeles community in Food Forward’s volunteer efforts. “Food Forward connects the produce to localized food banks,” Forest said. “We collect primarily citrus to distribute to people experiencing food insecurity.”
Food Forward is driven by the staff and volunteers that harvest the citrus around Los Angeles. Volunteers have the option to glean produce from their own backyards or participate in larger-scale community harvests organized through Food Forward.
“We’ve been able to donate around 489,000 pounds of fresh produce around Los Angeles in the past year,” Forest said. “This is all through backyard harvest alone.”
Kristen Johnson COO, who is in charge of food distribution and day-to-day operations at Food Forward, said, “We have about 1,400 volunteers that collect fallen fruit from their own yards and neighboring yards,”
Johnson started at Food Forward as one of its many volunteers. “I worked in education and I saw how much poor access to proper nutrition impacted students’ learning,” Johnson said. “That’s when I decided to seek out opportunities in nutrition equity to make a difference.”
Food Forward’s volunteers are committed to the goal of eliminating food insecurity and reducing food waste. Food Forward has been able to donate almost 1 million pounds of otherwise-discarded produce around Los Angeles.
“Our volunteers are really the backbone of Food Forward,” Johnson said.
Kelly Akins has been a volunteer harvest leader at Food Forward for ten years. Akins spends her Tuesdays and Thursdays collecting produce from her neighborhood’s yards before driving out to a food bank at the end of the week.
“Food insecurity is just something that makes me crazy,” Akins said. “I love being outside and getting my hands dirty, so volunteering is really a win-win for everyone.”
Akins volunteered throughout Covid, at a time where food distribution became all the more necessary, yet increasingly difficult to coordinate.
“There was a special moment I had at a church in Woodland Hills during Covid,” Akins said. “I brought a huge box of these beautiful oranges to a food distribution and the people in the line got so excited. It just gives me chills and reminds me what this is all about.”
Over 2 million people in Los Angeles are currently facing food insecurity, according to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
“There are just so many hungry people, but all it is is a matter of logistics,” Akins said. “You get the food from point A where it’s being wasted to point B to the people who need it.”
Food Forward is committed to doing its part to bridge that gap between Point A and Point B. “The backyard harvest program keeps food within the region, which strengthens the relationship between us and the community,” Ally Forest said. “The volunteer model in general allows people to get involved in any aspect of the food distribution process.”
Food Forward aims to continue expanding its outreach through more harvesting events in the coming years.
“The most influential thing about this backyard harvest program is how accessible it is,” Kristen Johnson said. “It’s one of the most accessible ways people can make a difference in their communities, so I really encourage everyone to volunteer if they can.”
For more information on Food Forward and how you can sign up to volunteer, visit foodforward.org.