The Yakima Valley Produce Harvest gleaning program, hosted at Northwest Harvest’s Yakima warehouse, started in 2009. The Yakima Harvest VISTA position has been the driving force for the development of a produce recovery project and has primarily focused on resource capacity-building (e.g. identifying and recruiting agricultural donors, organizing transportation and volunteer pickers, connecting farms and food banks directly).
Between 2009 and 2012, our gleaners recovered over 522,000 pounds of nutritious fruits and vegetables and mobilized over 1,550 volunteers who served over 5,650 hours. The produce was distributed to 47 food banks and meal programs, all of whom partner with the Northwest Harvest warehouse in Yakima. The focus of the Yakima gleaning program is on cull bin, orchard, and row crop gleaning as well as Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR).
