St. Mary’s Food Bank now accepting backyard fruit tree donations
Jan 19, 2021, 5:30 AM
A family donating dozens of Thanksgiving turkeys at the St. Mary's Food Bank gets help from volunteers to unload their vehicle, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
PHOENIX — It’s been a bountiful winter for backyard fruit-bearing trees in the Valley.
The dry and warm weather that the Valley has experienced this winter has propelled Phoenix’s St. Mary’s Food Bank to open its donation drive for citrus early.
The food bank announced on Monday that it would accept all fruit donations from now until the beginning of March.
The donations are welcomed at a time where the food bank is seeing upwards of 1,000 families a day at their location, according to St. Mary’s Food Bank director of public relations Jerry Brown.
The food bank accepts grapefruit, orange, lemon and other citrus fruit donations.
The influx in food bank visitors overlaps with a lack of volunteer workers due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has prevented St. Mary’s from coming and picking neighborhood fruit trees as they’ve done in the past.
All fruit donations can be dropped off at St. Mary’s locations in Phoenix (2831 N. 31st Ave.) and Surprise (13050 W. Elm St.), between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
