Community Fruit Rescue is a coalition dedicated to harvesting and distributing the surplus urban fruit growing throughout Boulder, CO. We aim to reduce food waste and greenhouse gas emissions, decrease conflicts with wildlife, strengthen our community and increase equitable access to healthy, hyper local food.

We coordinate harvests throughout the city, connecting volunteers with homeowners wanting to donate fruit. 1/3 of the bounty is given to shelters, food pantries and schools, 1/3 is shared with volunteer harvesters and 1/3 goes to the homeowner whose trees we’ve harvested.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of incredible fruit grows nearly effortlessly in cities throughout the world. In Boulder, tangy apples, luscious pears, juicy peaches and savory plums can be found piled beneath trees creating a mess for homeowners, an attraction for bears, and a wasted opportunity for our community. Meanwhile, hungry, homeless and low-­income populations lack access to healthy and affordable food, while those better off drive to a supermarket to buy food trucked in from across the globe, often produced and transported with practices that guarantee a heavy environmental and social toll.

We think it makes more sense to help our community members become aware of the amazing food that already grows all around them, to gather with their neighbors to harvest the collective bounty, and to ensure that – rather than the fruit laying in waste in someone’s yard – the bounty is shared with all in our community, especially those with barriers to accessing fresh, healthy, local food. That’s why we organize neighborhood harvest events, where trees bearing large amounts of fruit are harvested by neighbors and friends and their children in the course of a fun afternoon, providing fruit to take home by all the participants with plenty of extra to share with food banks, shelters and schools.