FAQs

We recover fresh surplus fruits and vegetables to prevent food waste and donate them to hundreds of hunger relief organizations serving people and communities experiencing food insecurity. Because we specialize in nutrient-dense produce recovery, we measure our impact in servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, not meals.

We recover surplus fresh fruits and vegetables by the pallet and truckload from across the country, with the greatest concentration in Southern California. Our volunteers harvest and glean throughout Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties.

We distribute surplus fresh fruits and vegetables to people experiencing food insecurity across Los Angeles, Southern California, and nationwide.

We hold volunteer events across Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties. Our harvesting sites include Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Santa Rosa Valley, Simi Valley, Somis, and Thousand Oaks. Our gleaning areas include Channel Islands, Ojai, Thousand Oaks, Ventura, and Westlake Village. Visit our Volunteer Events Calendar to find an event near you.

Food Forward started in 2009 when founder Rick Nahmias noticed huge quantities of surplus fruit on neighborhood trees going to waste, unharvested and uneaten. He joined forces with a neighbor for an experiment: with just two more volunteers and in one backyard, they harvested over 800 pounds of fruit and donated it to SOVA in Van Nuys. That first community food rescue sparked a produce recovery movement that has grown into one of the largest independent produce recovery organizations in the country.

More fresh produce passes through the Los Angeles region than any other part of the country, and Los Angeles is home to a high number of people experiencing food insecurity. This makes our region uniquely positioned for produce recovery at scale.

Our produce recovery activities prevent significantly more greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere than our daily operations emit in the process of redirecting recovered surplus produce from landfills. When produce decomposes in a landfill it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By recovering surplus fruits and vegetables before they become food waste, we directly support the sustainability goals of SB 1383 while simultaneously advancing nutrition equity.

There are many ways to give. Visit our Ways to Give page to find the option that works for you.

We partner with hunger relief organizations to distribute surplus produce to individuals. Visit our Get Food page to find free produce distribution near you.

Our generous donors are the backbone of Food Forward. Their donations cover the costs of our tools and equipment, including boxes, hand carts, and other necessary tools and apparel used in our produce recovery programs.

Visit our Volunteer Events Calendar to find sign-up forms for our volunteer produce rescue events.

Most of our volunteers help us rescue and donate surplus fruits and vegetables at various locations. Below are the two main types of volunteer events.

Backyard Harvest: Volunteers rescue surplus fruit from trees that would otherwise go to waste and connect it with local hunger relief organizations. We rescue citrus, persimmons, pomegranates, stone fruit, and more from private properties as well as public and commercial orchards and farms. Volunteers receive an orientation from a trained Volunteer Event Leader and place harvested fruit into boxes. Volunteers should be comfortable carrying boxes that may weigh up to 20 pounds.

Farmers Market Recovery: Volunteers connect rescued fruits and vegetables from farmers markets with local hunger relief organizations at weekly gleans. Volunteers pass out empty boxes to vendors, then pick up, sort, and weigh filled boxes. Volunteers should be comfortable carrying boxes that may weigh up to 40 pounds, or register with someone who can help.

See our Health Policy for details.

You can cancel if needed. Find one of our confirmation or reminder emails in your inbox. Those emails contain links so you can alert us to your cancellation. Then stay home, rest well, and feel better.

Each property we harvest has different conditions. Some trees are in residential front or backyards while others are in large orchards. Some properties may have irrigation lines, uneven ground, insects, and other plants nearby the trees. We cannot guarantee that there will be shade or that the ground will be flat and even. If you have a specific access need, email [email protected] to let us know ahead of time.

The type of tools you may need to use, including your hands, hand clippers, pruners, fruit picker, extended fruit picker, and extended pruner, depends on the type of fruit and where it is located on the trees. Contact us if you have a question.

We send an email confirming you signed up. Check your inbox, or your spam folder if you don’t see it, for an email from [email protected].

You will receive email notifications four days before and then 24 hours before the event you signed up for. Email notifications include the event address, contact information, meet-up instructions, and any additional details you may need.

If you cannot make it to the event you signed up for, please cancel at least three days before the event so we can find a volunteer to take your place. You can cancel by clicking the link under “Do you need to cancel?” in the reminder emails.

Many of our volunteer events do not have restrooms available or public restrooms nearby. Please feel free to contact us in advance if you have questions or concerns.

We supply all the equipment needed, but the majority of our produce recovery events take place outside. Here are a few items we recommend you bring.

• Water is a must.
• Sunscreen and a hat.
• Gardening gloves, if you use them.
• Bug spray, if desired.
• Comfortable clothes you don’t mind getting dirty and closed-toe shoes.

Not at all. We arrange transportation with the hunger relief organization receiving the surplus produce or with the Volunteer Event Leader. Since your clothing and shoes may get dirty at the event, you may want to bring a towel or blanket to sit on for the drive home.

We do require that volunteers stay for the entire event. Most of our events have small volunteer teams, and we need everyone to participate the whole time.

Five years old for Backyard Harvest events, unless otherwise stated on the event.

Twelve years old for Farmers Market Recovery events.

Volunteers under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who registers for the event and stays for the entire event. All volunteers, including children, must be registered with a unique email address.

If you have already registered as a volunteer for an event and want to register your child as well, you can register them using an alias email address. You can create alias emails by adding a plus sign and characters after your email address. For example, if your email address is [email protected], your alias email would be [email protected].

We do not allow babies at our volunteer events for safety reasons. The minimum age to volunteer is five years old for Backyard Harvest events and 12 years old for Farmers Market Recovery events. Volunteers under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who registers for the event and stays for the entire event.

Yes, as long as they also sign up to volunteer for the same event. Please note that most events cannot accept walk-up volunteers, so advanced registration is required.

If you are interested in volunteering with a group of more than five people, fill out our Group Volunteer Form, then check our Volunteer Calendar and let us know if you see an upcoming event that works for your group.

Please note that we receive many requests for group volunteering and our events fill up quickly. If we can accommodate your group, we will send you a private link to sign up. Volunteers, including children, are required to register separately online before the event so that each volunteer completes our mandatory release form and we have an accurate count of participants. Each volunteer must sign up individually using a different email address.

Please leave any pets at home when you volunteer with us. If you have a service animal, please email [email protected] to see if we have an upcoming event that accommodates you and your service animal.

While we deeply appreciate the hard work volunteers do to rescue surplus fruits and vegetables, the produce we collect is donated to local hunger relief organizations. This allows us to provide full transparency to anyone who donates fruits and vegetables to Food Forward. Visit our Get Food page for information on free produce distribution near you.

The Volunteer Event Leader will be able to tell you how much surplus produce was rescued and donated, and which hunger relief organizations will benefit. You will also receive a follow-up email with this information, including the pounds of surplus produce rescued and the equivalent servings of fresh fruits and vegetables recovered.

Absolutely. Keep in mind our events have limited volunteer spots and generally fill up one to three weeks in advance. We recommend registering on our Volunteer Calendar as early as possible and checking back regularly.

We are always happy to sign your community service hours after you complete them. However, we cannot guarantee in advance that a volunteer will be able to complete a specific number of hours.

Yes. Please bring the form with you and the Volunteer Event Leader can sign it. If your school does not provide a form, you can email [email protected] after you volunteer to get your hours confirmed. Please allow up to one week for us to confirm your hours.

Nearly all of our produce recovery events are powered by trained volunteers, so we would love to have your help. Learn more about becoming a Harvest Leader, Glean Team Leader, or Community Ambassador.

Most events still go on in light rain or hot weather. We generally cancel in heavy rain, extreme heat over 104 degrees, or unhealthy air quality. Weather can change quickly, so we often wait until 24 hours before the event to decide whether to cancel. We will contact volunteers in the event of a cancellation. If you are uncomfortable volunteering in forecasted weather conditions, you can cancel your spot through the cancellation link included in your reminder emails.

Visit our Inspire Others pages for all the tools and information you need to get started.

Visit and fill out our Fruit Tree Registration form.

New fruit donors: If you have not already, register your fruit tree.

Past fruit donors: Reach out to us via email at [email protected], or call (818) 850-2702 for Los Angeles County or (805) 203-6954 for Ventura County to plan for a harvest.

Step 1: We determine that your fruit is ripe and ready.

Step 2: We collect recent photos of the fruit tree and surrounding areas.

Step 3: We add the tree to our Ready to Harvest list, where trained volunteers sign up for the properties they would like to harvest based on location, fruit type, and size of the harvest.

Step 4: We will contact you by email to confirm your harvest date and time once a volunteer signs up. If you do not have email, we will contact you by phone.

Step 5: Once a harvest is confirmed, we make the necessary arrangements, including confirming a local hunger relief organization to receive the surplus produce, coordinating equipment and boxes, and recruiting volunteers if needed. We will call again to confirm details with you the week of the harvest.

Note: We do not add properties to the harvest queue based on sign-up time. Because of this, we cannot guarantee that we will get to every property, especially during the height of citrus season in winter and spring. Our volunteers are not able to harvest fruit for your personal use. If you would like our volunteers to leave some fruit on the tree for your use, please let us know before scheduling the event.

Food Forward is a volunteer-driven organization and we receive many requests. While we do our best to schedule as many harvests as possible, we cannot guarantee a timeframe or that we will be able to harvest your tree at all. We highly encourage you to use our available DIY resources to harvest your tree if possible.

No. If you would like us to leave some fruit on your tree for your use, let us know when we are scheduling the harvest.

In most cases, absolutely. One fruit tree can yield a lot of surplus produce. Our only requirement is that there should be enough fruit for one or more volunteers to conduct the harvest for at least one hour. If you have less fruit than that, you can harvest it yourself and donate it.

Once we have scheduled a harvest at your property, please follow these tips to prepare.

• Remove debris from the area around the tree.
• Clean up after your pet.
• Mow grass or tall weeds.
• Clear the pathway of entry for the volunteers.
• Place all animals, including friendly pets, away from the harvesting area before volunteers arrive.
• You and other members of your household must always treat our volunteers with kindness and respect. Food Forward reserves the right to not work with fruit donors in the future for any reason, including disrespecting staff and volunteers. Our events are volunteer-powered, and we work hard to create great volunteer experiences.

Depending on how much surplus produce you have, we may be able to harvest your garden. If you have a few spare fruits or vegetables that you cannot eat, we can put you in touch with a local hunger relief organization so your homegrown surplus does not go to waste. Learn about harvesting and donating your own garden vegetables.

Our volunteers can harvest fruit they can safely reach while standing on the ground with a fruit picker, an extension tool, or a hand pruner. We can typically harvest as high as 10 to 15 feet. If your tree is above that height, we will not be able to harvest all the fruit. We also may not be able to harvest if your tree has a lot of dead wood or if there are electrical lines nearby. We will do our best to harvest as much as we can and recommend pruning regularly for the health of your tree.

Yes, we are fully insured and each fruit harvest is led by a trained Volunteer Event Leader.

Food Forward staff will call, email, or text you the week of the harvest to confirm any details, such as whether you will be home and how to access the tree.

If you are donating citrus, we are required to follow California Department of Agriculture quarantine rules to prevent the spread of Asian Citrus Psyllid. We may leave behind a plastic bag of solarizing green waste in your yard, which you can dispose of in one to three days after the foliage dries out. Please read more on Asian Citrus Psyllid and HLB if you have citrus trees.

You will receive an email the week following your harvest with an in-kind donation receipt detailing how many pounds you donated and where it was donated. We can also send a hard copy of this letter if requested.

We would love to hear from you when your fruit is ripe. Start by emailing the person you were in contact with for your last harvest. If you do not remember who your contact was, email [email protected]. You can also call our regional lines: Los Angeles County: (818) 850-2702, Ventura County: (805) 203-6954.

If you have opted in to receive harvest emails from Food Forward, we will check in seasonally on the status of your fruit based on the fruit type listed on your profile. If you have not opted in, we cannot guarantee we will reach out. The best way to hear from us is to sign up for these automated harvest emails. We also recommend saving your regional coordinator’s email address to your contacts and checking your spam periodically.

You are welcome to post on local online groups such as Nextdoor or Facebook. See our sample posts below for ideas on what to share. If you would like to participate in additional outreach, receive a yard sign, or get flyers to share with others, please reach out to [email protected].

Sample long post: Hi, neighbors. I volunteer and support Food Forward, a nonprofit that rescues surplus fruits and vegetables and and donates them to local hunger relief organizations, reducing food waste and advancing nutrition equity at the same time. Food Forward is always looking for volunteers in two food rescue programs. Backyard Harvest invites volunteers to help rescue surplus fruit from trees in their communities, for ages five and up. Farmers Market Recovery volunteers connect surplus fruits and vegetables from local farmers markets with hunger relief organizations, for ages 12 and up. Events are one and a half to two hours and are a fun, flexible, family-friendly way to make a real difference. Sign up at foodfoward.org/volunteer. If you or a neighbor have a fruit tree, you can register to donate your surplus fruit at foodfoward.org/donate-food. Food Forward accepts most kinds of fruit, and all donations go directly to hunger relief organizations serving people experiencing food insecurity in your community. Fruit donors receive a receipt for their in-kind donation. Questions? Reach out to [email protected].

Sample short post: Looking for a fun, impactful way to support your community? Food Forward volunteers rescue surplus fruits and vegetables that would otherwise become food waste and connect them with local hunger relief organizations. I have volunteered and supported Food Forward for (add time), and it has been (add your experience here). Learn more at foodforward.org/volunteer. Have surplus fruit? Register your tree at foodforward.org/donate-food.

Thank you for your interest in partnering with Food Forward. Due to high demand and limited capacity, we maintain a substantial waitlist. A member of our Agency Relations team will reach out to schedule a brief introductory call to learn more about your distribution program and determine which of our produce recovery programs may be the best fit.

Please note that placement may take several months, and we encourage organizations to continue seeking additional food resources while waiting.

There is no set timeline for placement. Wait times depend on program compatibility, geographic alignment, and available program capacity. Some organizations may remain on the waitlist for an extended period of time.

A 501(c)(3) is a federally recognized nonprofit organization that operates for charitable purposes and is eligible to receive tax-deductible donations.

We primarily partner with federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. In limited cases, small, community-based hunger relief programs may apply with a fiscal sponsor. Fiscal sponsorship is generally appropriate for early-stage volunteer-led programs.

A fiscal sponsor must be an established 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission aligns with charitable food distribution and must provide written authorization.

Organizations operating larger or high-volume distributions are expected to hold independent 501(c)(3) status to ensure appropriate oversight and accountability.

Food Forward is headquartered in North Hollywood, CA. Our Wholesale Produce Recovery warehouse is located in Bell, CA, and we have a satellite office in Ventura, CA.

Los Angeles County is our primary service area due to the high rate of food insecurity and our operational footprint. Eligibility outside of Los Angeles County depends on program alignment, location, and available capacity.

Backyard Harvest: Volunteers rescue surplus fresh produce, most commonly citrus, from residential, commercial and private properties. Partner agencies pick up harvested surplus produce at the site or, when feasible, receive delivery from volunteers. These donations are more varied based on seasonality and geography.

Farmers Market Recovery: We glean surplus produce from farmers markets across Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Volunteers connect donated produce from vendors and coordinate distribution to scheduled partner agencies. Agencies who receive from this program are required to commit to a regular weekly pickup.

Wholesale Produce Recovery: Our Wholesale Recovery team operates Monday through Friday, recovering surplus produce from the LA Wholesale Produce Market as well as from local growers, packers, and shippers. Agencies that can commit to consistent pickup at our Bell warehouse may receive quantities ranging from partial pallets to multiple full pallets.

Shelf life depends on the produce recovery program.

Backyard Harvest surplus produce is freshly harvested and typically lasts one to two weeks.

Farmers Market Recovery surplus produce is often closer to peak ripeness and should be distributed within 48 hours.

Wholesale Produce Recovery surplus produce is best distributed within 24 hours.

>We encourage timely distribution across all programs to ensure quality.

To maintain consistent, reliable access for our partner agencies, Food Forward does not typically provide produce for one-time special events.

No. Food Forward does not sell produce. All recovered surplus produce is donated to hunger relief partners at no cost.

We measure our impact in servings, not meals. A serving is one portion of fresh fruits or vegetables, aligned with USDA nutrition and dietary guidance, that contributes to a person’s daily recommended intake of fruits and vegetables.

Because we recover fresh, plant-based produce and not prepared meals, servings reflect the nutritional density of what we provide. Our hunger relief partners use these servings as the backbone of the meals and pantry distributions they provide to people experiencing food insecurity.

We define produce recovery as the act of collecting surplus fruits and vegetables to redirect them to people experiencing food insecurity, rather than allowing them to become food waste. Produce recovery is the most precise description of what we do. We use produce recovery and produce rescue as our primary terms, with food recovery and food rescue as acceptable secondary terms.

We use these terms to describe two distinct types of programs.

Food recovery refers to our wholesale operations, including partnerships with growers, shippers, packers, and wholesale distributors through our Wholesale Produce Recovery Program.

Food rescue refers to our community and volunteer-powered programs, including Backyard Harvest and Farmers Market Recovery.

Both are forms of produce recovery, which is the most precise term for what we do.

We use surplus produce as the most accurate term for the fresh fruits and vegetables we recover. Surplus produce is edible, high-quality food that exists in greater supply than the immediate market can absorb. It is not waste, it is abundance waiting to be redirected. We use surplus produce in place of terms like excess food, leftover food, or unwanted produce, all of which misrepresent the quality and value of what we recover.

We define nutrition equity as the principle that all people, regardless of income, race, geography, or background, deserve consistent access to fresh, nutrient-dense foods that support their health and well-being. Nutrition equity goes beyond food access by addressing not just whether people can get food, but whether that food provides genuine nutritional value. We advance nutrition equity by recovering surplus fruits and vegetables and distributing them as servings of fresh produce to communities experiencing food insecurity.

We distinguish nutrition security from food security by its focus on quality over quantity. Food security addresses whether a person has enough food. Nutrition security addresses whether that food is nutritious, looking at the nutritional value, affordability, accessibility, and safety of foods that promote health and well-being, with a focus on equity. Our produce recovery model directly supports nutrition security by ensuring that surplus fruits and vegetables, not just calorie-dense shelf-stable items, reach people experiencing food insecurity.

We define food access as the degree to which people can obtain nutritious food based on cost, availability, and convenience. Limited food access disproportionately affects low-income communities and communities of color. We work to expand food access by providing free, fresh fruits and vegetables through a network of over 250 hunger relief partner organizations.

We use the USDA definition of food insecurity as a lack of consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable foods that promote optimal health and well-being. We describe the people we serve as people experiencing food insecurity, not as hungry people or the food insecure. This person-first language reflects our values of dignity and equity.

We define food waste as edible food that is grown or produced but not consumed. Food waste refers both to the broader systemic issue and to individual items of food that go unconsumed. We directly address food waste by recovering surplus fruits and vegetables before they can reach a landfill. When produce becomes food waste in a landfill, it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Our produce recovery model prevents this outcome while simultaneously advancing nutrition equity.

We define food justice as all individuals and communities, across all social, racial, and economic lines, having equitable access and participation in the growing, selling, buying, and consuming of fresh nutritious food. We work to ensure food justice by increasing access to free fresh produce in communities experiencing food insecurity, accomplished through partnerships with hundreds of hunger relief organizations who distribute our recovered fruits and vegetables, reducing the health equity gap and empowering stronger communities.

We use hunger relief organization as our primary term for our receiving agencies and nonprofits we partner with to distribute recovered surplus produce. Examples include food banks, food pantries, and organizations that operate food distribution programs alongside other services. Partner agency is an acceptable secondary term. We do not use the term receiving agency in external communications.

We use plant-based recovery to describe our produce-focused model. Because we recover exclusively fruits and vegetables and not prepared meals, meat, dairy, or processed foods, our work is inherently plant-based. Plant-based recovery reflects both the nutritional focus of what we provide and the environmental benefit of redirecting produce away from landfills.

We use gleaning to refer to the act of gathering surplus produce at our Farmers Market Recovery volunteer events, drawing on the traditional meaning of collecting leftover produce or grain after a harvest. In general communications, we prefer the terms produce recovery and produce rescue over gleaning unless referring specifically to these volunteer events.

We use food as medicine to describe an approach to healthcare that recognizes nutritious food as a foundation of health. This may include medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and produce prescription programs. Our produce recovery model supports food as medicine principles by ensuring nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables reach communities that need them most.

We define produce prescriptions as fruit and vegetable prescriptions or vouchers provided by medical professionals for people experiencing diet-related diseases or food insecurity, as defined by the White House’s 2022 National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.

We recognize food desert as a widely used term for areas where residents lack access to affordable, nutritious foods due to a lack of stores or prohibitive costs. Related terms include food swamp, an area where unhealthy food options outnumber healthy ones, and food apartheid, a term used in the food justice movement to acknowledge that these conditions are not accidental but the result of systemic inequities. We use these terms only when appropriate and when they are used by the community to which we are applying them.

We use nutrient-dense to describe foods that provide a high amount of vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial nutrients relative to their calorie content. Fresh fruits and vegetables are among the most nutrient-dense foods available. Every serving of fresh fruits and vegetables we recover delivers meaningful nutritional value