The Spokane Edible Tree Project (SETP) empowers our neighbors to share in the harvest and care of existing fruit & nut trees by implementing food recovery methods and cultivating a connection with the greater needs in the community. We envision a beautiful thriving urban area where the community is competent in the essentials of fruit and nut tree maintenance, is effectively preserving the bounty of these local nourishing sources and is promoting community food security. Since 2013, SETP has connected fruit tree owners, volunteers, food banks and community organizations with the goal of fighting hunger and food waste in the Spokane area. They have collected over 70,000 pounds of fruit with over 2,000 volunteer hours, and that fruit has been delivered to area food banks and meal programs to increase the healthy choices available to food insecure populations living in poverty in the Spokane region. The Summer Associate will support SETP by serving in two main capacities; as a Harvest Leader, and performing community outreach tasks to expand SETP’s capacity. The Harvest VISTA is a program of Harvest Against Hunger that partners with CNCS to place AmeriCorps VISTAs in host sites around Washington to create and sustain gleaning and produce recovery project that increases the amounts of fresh nutritious local produce in the hunger relief system.

Member Duties : The Summer Associate (SA) will serve as a harvest leader as needed in the region, develop contacts and partnerships with tree owners and plan gleaning schedules with orchard owners. The SA will maintain reliable communication with volunteers about upcoming gleans as well as coordinate volunteers work at each harvest event, lead at least one harvest a week during the gleaning season and lead Spokane’s Farmers Market Recovery program. In addition, the SA will track volunteer hours and pounds of produce harvested, work with Education and outreach committee to conduct outreach to the community.

Website link here: https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?id=94832&fromSearch=true#new_tab