North Valley Food Bank seeks volunteers for fruit harvest

North Valley Food Bank is gathering members of the community for its fall fruit harvest event throughout Whitefish on Sept. 10.

The project is a partnership between the food bank and the city of Whitefish, which manages more than 20 fruit trees. It aims to limit human-wildlife conflict by deterring bears from coming into town while providing fresh produce to food bank customers.

Managing the project is the food bank’s AmeriCorps VISTA Alyssa Foote who says the harvest is a great community event.

“It provides nutritious local food to the families and individuals we’re currently serving, and at the same time helps minimize human-bear conflict,” she said. “We’re excited to continue partnering with the city of Whitefish to feed our neighbors in need while reducing wildlife encounters.”

Inedible fruit will be donated to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which gives the fruit to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone to feed the bears at the center.

Last year alone, the project yielded around 1,500 pounds of fruit. With the food bank’s commercial kitchen, it is able to process and distribute the harvested fruit to customers during the winter months.

The harvesting project will take place on Sunday, Sept. 10 from 1-3 p.m. and is a family-friendly event. Volunteers will meet at North Valley Food Bank, 251 Flathead Avenue, Whitefish, at 1 p.m. to pick up harvesting supplies and receive tree location assignments. All volunteers should return to the food bank after finishing picking to drop off harvested fruit.

Returning volunteers should sign up on their My Impact account or new volunteers can sign up on the food bank’s website. For more information, contact alyssa@northvalleyfoodbank.org or call 406.862.5863, ext: 1006.