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 Katy Kolker says she’s found her dream job, but it probably doesn’t look like yours.
Kolker, 28, is the executive director and sole employee of the Portland Fruit Tree Project, an organization devoted to harvesting unwanted fruit from trees across Portland to feed families in need. It was, for a long time, a labor of love—the Project only recently acquired the funds to pay Kolker, who spent much of the past two years volunteering almost full-time.
The Baltimore native, whose background is in biology and environmental studies, started the Project 2 1/2 years ago when she was volunteering with AmeriCorps. In their own neighborhoods, Kolker and another AmeriCorps member picked fruit and pruned trees belonging to elderly or infirm homeowners who were unable to pick the fruit themselves. That first year they had so much interest that they decided to take it beyond their neighborhoods. Last year the Project went citywide. Fruit-tree owners submit their underharvested trees to a registry, and Kolker and her board organize harvesting parties. Half the fruit goes home with the volunteers and half goes to various local food banks. In addition, half the volunteer slots (for which there is a substantial waiting list) are reserved for people living on low incomes, so fully three-quarters of the harvested fruit goes to people in need.
The Fruit Tree Project hosted 12 harvesting events in 2008, picking over 4,000 pounds of fresh fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste. So far this year Kolker estimates some 1,000 families have benefited.
“Fresh fruit is challenging for the emergency food network to acquire, and we were seeing this obvious resource going to waste,” she says. “It’s amazing how many people can’t afford to eat healthily, and to buy fresh produce.”
The Project also teaches workshops on food preservation in the fall and tree care in winter—with the goal, Kolker says, of “not just harvesting, but empowering people to use the fruit and make it last through winter.”
In about a year, Kolker hopes to begin a community orchard planting program, partnering with other organizations to plant orchards in public sites like churches, schools and community gardens. “We see the potential for this to blossom into a neighborhood-based resource sharing network,” says Kolker. “Eventually we may get into vegetables or berries, but capacity is the main factor for now.”
Kolker’s vision seems to be spreading. She says she’s been contacted by people from all over the country — and a few in Canada — hoping to start similar projects, and gets calls from people in Eugene “about once a month. I haven’t had time to call anyone back all summer. That’s my project for the winter.” |
