Photo courtesy of Kimo Yore
There’s a lot to be done, and it’s fun to do it.
Getting involved on the most basic level (harvesting) is super simple: If you register on the form below, you will receive an email each time we have a harvest planned, which is a few times each week during the season (June-October). If the time and neighborhood for that particular harvest works for you, respond and we’ll send you the specifics. If not, no sweat, just hit delete and you won’t hurt our feelings one bit.
If you would like to work with us please fill out this form. Your information will not be shared with anyone or used for any purpose outside Yard Harvest.
There are several different ways you can get involved, and it would be great to have you as part of the team in any way you will look forward to getting the job done.
We want to hear from folks who would like to devote a few hours once a month, once per harvest season, or just once (that’s not much, especially considering the satisfaction of the work we’re doing) for a variety of positions:
Most of the fun will happen from June through October, but there’s more to be done all year, thank goodness.
Harvesters
Bring the kids, come out with friends, or show up solo to meet new folks. You will be notified about harvests in your area and you can help out once a week, once a month, or once a year. No commitments, just spend a few hours harvesting food when it works for you. (You’ll also be able to keep a bit for yourself, though of course the idea is to donate the vast majority.)
Lead Harvesters
These great people take on a bit more responsibility. Depending on the specific pick, it might mean
- Coordinating a group of 4 to 8 people (these could be your friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, or may be provided from our list of volunteers),
- Bringing our equipment (ladders, picking poles, bags and boxes for the bounty, etc.) to the site, and/or
- Bringing food to our partners at day care centers, homes for elderly people, transitional housing, community kitchens, and similar groups.
To be a lead harvester, we ask that you commit to attending one training session with a more experienced harvester.
Leaders can certainly choose which picks and which of these tasks will work best for them. Our coordinator(s) will find the best match with Leaders, Harvesters, and the specific events.
Coordinators
These are our quarterbacks. We will be able to pay someone to do part-time work in this capacity during the 2012 harvest season. It will still be helpful to have more than one person who can commit to coordinating harvests.
Though our idea is simple, there are lots of moving parts. Thankfully, we got a pretty slick system to make it happen without too much headache for any one person.
It will all become clear to you when the time is at hand.
Partner Coordinators
It’s important to know what our partner organizations are doing with the produce, when they can receive it, how much they can distribute, and if they have specific events when people may be coming together to learn about the preparation or preservation of fresh produce.
We’re also always looking for new organizations with whom we can work. Check out the Receive Produce page if your organization is able to distribute our harvests to people in need, especially if you can conduct classes on how to prepare and/or preserve fresh produce.
If your organization is similar in nature, intent, or operations to DYH, please contact us! We don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, and we may very well be able to help each other!