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 Volunteer Newsletter Apr 25, 2025 Feeding the Community With Second Harvest of Silicon Valley GIANT Orange Orchard Harvests Upcoming Harvest Schedule Last chance for the season at the Giant Orange Orchard! Come enjoy a Thursday evening or Sunday morning of fresh air and community spirit as we finish strong for our series of orchard harvests in North San Jose.
Over the past five weeks, volunteers have picked nearly 91,000 pounds of oranges for donation to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. Tomorrow's harvest will likely bring us over the 100,000 pound mark for the season! We have several more rows of trees to pick next week, and there's much more fruit remaining that we can harvest using pole pickers on trees previously picked from arm's reach. Sign up soon through the links below. The fruit we donate from every harvest makes a huge impact in our community. In this newsletter, VH volunteer and writer Vikki Bowes-Mok shares the story of our partnership with Second Harvest of Silicon Valley for the Giant Orange Orchard harvests. And stay tuned for Vikki's recap of the whole orange orchard season in our next edition! Coming up in May, we have these home harvests on our calendar already:
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful spring as peak citrus season winds down. Keep watching this space for more opportunities to harvest when the fruit seasons change! (Did someone say "apricots"?) Megan Elmore Orchard Harvest Coordinator megan@villageharvest.org Feeding the Community With Village Harvest and Second Harvest of Silicon ValleyAuthor: Vikki Bowes-Mok, volunteerWhat does it take to get a fresh orange from an orchard into the hands of someone in need? According to author Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the journey from farm to plate can be more than 1,500 miles. But here in Silicon Valley, thanks to three remarkable partners — a family orchard, Village Harvest and Second Harvest of Silicon Valley — that distance is often less than 50 miles.  Once harvested, the oranges are delivered to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, one of the largest food banks in the country. Second Harvest distributes the fruit through its vast network of more than 400 nonprofit partners at over 900 food distribution sites in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties — from soup kitchens and shelters to schools, churches and senior centers. “Many people don’t realize that in affluent Silicon Valley, 1 in 6 people turn to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley for support,” said Emily Acosta, produce sourcing manager. “These oranges, grown just a few blocks away from our Cypress Center, represent such an impactful story of neighbors helping neighbors. With just one bin, we’re able to distribute oranges to almost 300 households.” David Saxton, senior volunteer services production manager, sees firsthand how much the oranges mean to recipients. “Oranges are one of our most popular and nutritious produce items,” he said. “We love telling volunteers that they’re packing fruit grown right here in San Jose. We’re grateful for this donation and the opportunity to help get farm-fresh produce into the hands of people who need it the most.” Last Call for Volunteers at the Giant Orange Orchard Come out and join us next week at the "Giant Orange Orchard!" This agricultural oasis in North San Jose is a family treasure, owned and operated by the same family for over 108 years now. They found Village Harvest in 2018, and since then have donated their entire crop to help local families and community members in need.At each of our harvests here, volunteers walk the orchard rows and pick buckets of oranges from the abundantly-bearing trees. The orchard family pitches in, too, driving farm tractors with special trailers that make it possible for volunteers to harvest as much as 20,000 pounds in a morning. Here are our upcoming orchard harvests in need of volunteers.
Upcoming Harvest ScheduleTo volunteer for any harvest, please visit the Events calendar online to see all details and the current availability for each harvest, then click the link within each calendar entry to sign up. Most harvests are 3 1/2 hours long.The home harvests below have a minimum age of 12 when accompanied by their parent, 16 without, and a maximum of 2 people in a party. Home harvests will require driving between homes during the morning.
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