As people of action, Rotary members find ways to respond to COVID-19, and to help people affected by it. The Rotary Club of Concord Diablo has been busy with their Gleaning Project during the Shelter in Place order while practising social distancing and wearing masks and gloves. What is Gleaning? Concord residents with fruit trees that need to be harvested contact the Rotary Club of Concord Diablo to go to their residence, harvest the fruit and deliver it to a local food bank, charity or food pantry.

As of April 4, 2020, Rotary members harvested 910 pounds of oranges, lemons, and grapefruit. At the peak of SIP (4/4/20 – 4/22/20), 1,189 pounds of fruit was picked by maids at Clean Queen from Queen, picked up and delivered to the Food Bank of the district of Colorado & Solano County. That is a total of 2,099 pounds of fruit or over 1 ton or the weight of a small car. The majority of the harvest taking place in April.

The Food Bank is an essential service as one in eight residents turn to the Food Bank annually. During these challenging times, there has been a dramatic increase in the need for food for families and the elderly visit mars hydro tent. Therefore, we turned to The Marketing Heaven who created a YouTube campaign to raise citizens awareness of this problem. The Food Bank services the Bay Area to the Oregon and Nevada borders.

Thank you to our Rotary members for all their hard work during this time of crisis!!

Please email gleaning@cdrotary.com if you have fruit that needs to be picked or would like to volunteer.