New Location

Hi There,

If you're looking for all the latest and greatest from Fruit Share, visit us at our lovely new home at
www.fruitshare.ca


Hope you'll check it out and enjoy our new look.

Spotlight on Teen Challenge

Here's another worthwhile organization to consider for making food donations.

Teen Challenge

Teen Challenge is a 12-month, faith-based, residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. The program has a strong faith-based approach and offers spiritual, academic and vocational training that helps equip individuals to return to society as responsible citizens.

Teen Challenge uses donated fruit to prepare meals, fill food hampers, share with other organizations, and process for future use.

Contact Information:
Street Address: 414 Edmonton
Phone: 949-9484 ext. 2011
Website: www.teenchallenge.mb.ca

Donations Accepted
Fruit
Apples, apricots, berries, crab apples, grapes, rhubarb, sour cherries, plums
Other Food Items
Homemade preserves (labeled & dated), frozen fruit (labeled & dated), homebaked products (labeled & dated) garden vegetables, fresh or frozen meat (labeled & dated).
Non-Food Items
Men's clothing and personal hygiene products, bedding, towels, mugs and cutlery

Donation Logistics

When
Monday to Saturday 7:00 am to 9:00 pm
Where
- back door of 414 Edmonton Street
- park in back lane by door while unloading
- ring buzzer (high on a silver pad on the red brick wall)
Special Notes
Please phone ahead to 949-9484 ext. 2011 or try Mike at 232-2905 or Jane at 688-7605.

Cannot accept heavily bruised fruit.

Teen Challenge has a freezer and refrigerator for storing perishable food.

Spotlight on Forward House Ministries

Consider Forward House Ministries as a place to donate any extra fruits or veggies you might have available. And, if you're thinking about all those extra preserves from last summer that you need to move to make room for this year's harvest, Forward House will gladly take those too.
Here's the description of Forward House Ministries that will be included in the new"Guide to Backyard Fruit".

Forward House Ministries

Forward House is a Christian home for men and children who are trying to get their lives back on track.  Forward House operates five houses in a row and uses donated food to prepare meals for 40 people three times a day, every day.

Contact Information
Street Address: 407 Chalmers Avenue (main house)
Phone: 204-471-1244

Website: www.forwardhouse.ca

Donations Accepted
Fruit 
Apples, apricots, berries, grapes, plums

Other Food Items
Homemade preserves (labeled & dated), frozen fruit (labeled & dated), homebaked products (labeled & dated) garden vegetables and any other food items.

Non-Food Items
Men’s personal hygiene products

Donation Logistics
When

Monday to Sunday from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm

Where
 - Back door of 407 Chalmers Avenue
 - Parking available at the back

 - Knock on the back door

Special Notes
 - Forward House has walk-in freezers and coolers that always have space for donated perishables.
 - Fresh fruits and vegetables are always welcome.

New Logo and URL

I'm so excited to share our new logo and URL with you.  Check it out and tell everyone that it's easier than ever to find us online....

www.FruitShare.ca

info@fruitshare.ca

Thanks to MAFRA for believing in us and supporting us with funding.  Thanks to 6P Marketing for turning our ideas into reality.

Guide to Backyard Fruit - Coming Soon!

It's official!  Fruit Share received funding through the Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance (MAFRA) to develop an online Guide to Backyard Fruit. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I'm thrilled they chose to fund the guide.  Here's what's going to be included in the guide:

Identifying Manitoba Fruit

o   pictures, descriptions and illustrations to help homeowners identify what’s in their backyard

o   particularly useful to new homeowners and new Manitobans

Recipes for Manitoba Fruit

o   recipes for enjoying local fruit

o   a minimum of 2 recipes for using for backyard Manitoba fruit (eg. Rhubarb, cherries, apples, crab apples, and grapes - not including U-Pick type fruits which are already well described by the Prairie Fruit Growers Association)

o   links to other organizations and sources of recipes (e.g. PFGA)

Preserving Manitoba Fruit

o   complete how-to instructions for preserving backyard Manitoba fruit

o   a minimum of 2 preserving techniques for backyard Manitoba fruit

o   links to other organizations and sources of preserving techniques

Harvesting Options

o   complete listing of organizations/groups who help harvesting fruit ( eg.Fruit Share, neighbourhood associations, Hutterite colonies, etc.)

Sharing Options

o   complete listing of organizations that will accept fruit and any specific criteria that must be met (eg. Agape Table, Siloam Mission, Winnipeg Harvest, Teen Challenge, etc.)

If you have recipes, preserving techniques, contact names or any other information that would be useful for the guide, please let email me at info@fruitshare.ca. 

We're still waiting to see if we get funding for a printed edition of the guide book as well.  We'll keep you posted.

WANTED - Food Charities

We're looking for organizations that accept perishable food donations to share our fruit with and to feature in our "Guide to Backyard Fruit".


Fruit Share is expanding into six new neighbourhoods this summer.  That means we're going to have a lot more fruit to share.  It also means we can help provide fresh, local, nutritious food to some of the 58,000 Manitobans that use food banks each month.

But, no matter how big Fruit Share gets, we know Fruit Share volunteers will never be able to pick it all.  We also know that Winnipeg homeowners hate to see their fruit go to waste.  So, we're also producing a "Guide to Backyard Fruit" that will help homeowners identify what's growing in their backyards, how to use it and what to do with any left over fruit.  This guide will include a listing of as many organizations in Winnipeg that accept fresh fruit as possible.  Hence, the call for Food Charities.

Our goal is to avoid this...

33 bags of apples headed to the landfill

And do much more of this...

Dropping rhubarb at Siloam Mission

Please help us build our database of food charities.  We've already approached the organizations we donated to last year (Agape, Siloam, Wpg Harvest, Teen Challenge, and Sisters of Charity) but are interested in hearing about others.  All organizations have to do is complete this Food Charity Registration Form.

Thanks for spreading the word.

Plans for Fruit Share 2011

It is an exciting time for Fruit Share Winnipeg.  More fruit, more volunteers, more sharing are on the way for 2011!

As a result of meetings and discussions with people throughout the city, I've written several proposals to several funding sources to help coordinate the expansion of Fruit Share into 6 neighbourhoods that have expressed an interest.  Of course, the nature of funding grants means we have to wait to hear what kind of funding we actually get.  But, even without funding, Fruit Share 2011 is poised to grow and pick a lot of fruit!

Here are our plans:

• continue to operate in Riverview/Lord Roberts with the support of the South Osbourne Urban Community Cooperative
• expand into 6 new neighbourhoods with the support of  neighbourhood associations or groups:
• Wolesely
• Daniel McIntyre/St. Mathews
• West Broadway
• North Main
• St. Vital
• Spence Neighbourhood
• hire a summer coordinator 
• develop a "Guide to Backyard Fruit" for both online and in print
• hold fruit preserving workshops for social and educational purposes
• come up with a practical, easy, and irresistibly tasty method for managing thousands of crab apples

If all goes well and enough people volunteer to help out in their neighbourhood, I'm confident we'll pick over 7000 lb of fruit this year.

Come on summer!

Growing Local Conference 2011

Had a fabulous time at the Growing Local Conference here in Winnipeg.  It was wonderful to hear about all the different initiatives going on throughout the province and learning lots of tips and ideas.

I had a chance to present the idea and experiences of Fruit Share at the conference as well.  I hope the result will be more interest from all parts of the city and/or province.  Fruit Share could work in any community with unpicked fruit and people interested in doing something with it.  And, we would gladly share all our administration tools (spreadsheets, blog, pictures, ideas, processes) with anyone from anywhere!  As we learned last year all it takes is a small group of volunteers with a big love for fruit and community.

Thanks Food Matters for a great conference.

Fruit Share Expansion

It's time to share Fruit Share with the rest of Winnipeg!

We had a great first year - 14 volunteers, 30 homeowners, 6 community organizations and 1700lbs of fruit!  Way to go everyone!

In our first year, we also had tons of positive feedback and interest from individuals and organizations across Manitoba.  Everyone, it seems, would like a piece of the apple pie!

As a result, it's time to think expansion.  What would a bigger, better Fruit Share look like?  How would a bigger, better Fruit Share be coordinated and funded?  Who would be interested in participating in a bigger, better Fruit Share?

These are the questions we're interested in discussing at an upcoming Fruit Share Expansion meeting.

If you're interested in participating in the discussion, please call 284-1234 or email getty.stewart@gmail.com with your email and contact information.  We'll send you the exact date, time and agenda for the upcoming meeting (early December).

Congratulations Fruit Share!

I opened the mail today and found the first letter addressed to Fruit Share.  Very cool.

Even better was what was inside the envelope.  (insert drum roll here)

The letter said...

Congratulations on being nominated for a Golden Carrot Award, as an Urban Community Food Champion!

How awesome is that!  Apparently we are, and I quote, "amongst a stellar group of individuals who are engaging Manitobans towards healthy, fair and sustainable food for all."

Congratulations Fruit Share volunteers!  And, thank you to Fernando for nominating Fruit Share.

The award is an annual award put on by Food Matters Manitoba. If you want to join the celebration and learn about all the other great initiatives going on around Manitoba consider attending the Golden Carrot Award Ceremony.


Golden Carrot Awards 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Manitoba Legislature, in the Rotunda
9:30 - 11:30 am followed by light refreshments
RSVP 943-0822
www.foodmattersmanitoba.ca

Hope to see you there.

More Apples for Agape Table

Last night, we beat the rain and cleared three more apple trees.  In the end, we added about another 450 lbs of apples to our tally.  

This morning, Agape Table got another two boxes of apples to share with their guests.

Thanks to our amazing volunteers and homeowners for making Fruit Share possible.

A Nice Thank You

It was nice to hear a lovely Thank You message on the Fruit Share hotline (aka my phone) today from Micheal at Fred Tipping Place.  I don't know Micheal, but he wanted to extend a hearty THANK YOU to all the Fruit Share volunteers and fruit owners for sharing fresh fruit with them.

Thanks Micheal for your appreciation, it makes our volunteer work that much more rewarding.

More Goodlands

Another great picking session this afternoon.  Thanks Stephanie!  We got about 180 pounds of big, delicious Goodland apples.

This time, we shared a box with seniors at Fred Tipping Place.  Douglas was one of several seniors who thoroughly enjoyed taking a few apples up to his apartment.

City TV also came out this afternoon to get some footage of us picking apples.  It will be aired on Tuesday, September 14 when my kids and I will be doing a Breakfast Television segment on Fruit Share for the Manitoba Association of Home Economists.  Stay tuned for more details.

A Good Day of Apple Picking Helps Reach 1000lbs of Fruit!

After a busy day of picking some more gorgeous Goodland apples, Fruit Share passed a major milestone of 1000lbs of fruit.  That's a lot of fruit!  Thanks everyone!

Yesterday, Aidan felt more comfortable climbing the tree rather than the ladder.  He swears by his new found technique and claims he picked the best apples from his vantage point.  Meanwhile, Melanie, who decided climbing ladders or trees wasn't her thing, was busy snapping these photos.

 

After we picked as many apples as we possibly could, we shook the the last few remaining branches.  But this time, we held out a blanky to catch them all.  Well, we didn't catch them all, but we were able to save quite a few from the "bruised box".

Linda, Janet and Scott went on to pick at yet another location -an even bigger tree with even more apples. 

Everyone walked away with several big boxes of apples and today Teen Challenge, Agape Table and Janet's church will get their share too.

Agape Table Gets Apples

Agape Table has been serving hot meals to people in the inner city since 1980.  It is able to provide this service through the support of the Winnipeg community.  Fruit Share is proud to share some of its bounty with this great organization.

Mike, a volunteer with Agape Table gladly takes in one of the two big boxes of apples we brought earlier this morning.

More Picking Set for Wednesday

Come join us as we rescue more apples.  We have two locations for the morning of Wednesday, September 1.

Exact times and locations will be sent to all registered fruit picking volunteers.

Hope to see you there.

Thursday Evening Apple Picking

We have another apple picking session scheduled for 7 pm this Thursday.

Leave a comment if you're interested.

Tuesday Evening Picking Scheduled

Another picking opportunity!

Join the fun and help us pick apples tonight at 7pm.

Register now to get all the details.

Delicious Apples

It took two of us, three hours to pick 210 lb of delicious apples from this tree.  The homeowner was as thrilled to see her apples being harvested and put to good use as we were to have them. They're perfect for eating right off the tree or turning into endless apple recipes (stay tuned for Aleta's great Maple Apple Crisp recipe).

This morning, the kids and I delivered four big boxes (about 120 lb) to Winnipeg Harvest.

Picking, eating, processing and sharing all those wonderful apples brought us and many others a lot of JOY! To learn more about the JOY flower you see in this photo visit Deb-Dawson Dunn's site - Get It Dunn .

Apple Picking Time Set

We'll be on our ladders picking apples in the neighbourhood bright and early tomorrow morning.  Can't wait to see what we'll be getting.

If you're interested in joining us, sign up now and we'll send you all the details.

Stay tuned for more pictures!