Community Fruit Rescue

An abundance of urban fruit

Dating back to the 1880s, early settlers of Boulder Valley took up the age-old practice of agriculture, and much of Boulder was developed as fruit orchards. Today, many of the remaining fruit trees thrive throughout Boulder’s urban areas and wild lands. Unfortunately, many of these trees go by unnoticed; once the fruit ripens, it falls to the ground and is left to rot on neighborhood sidewalks, residential properties, public parks, and throughout the city. Not only is this wasted fruit a mess for Boulder’s urban areas, but it is a dangerous attractant for wildlife like black bears.

Our goal

To address this issue, Community Fruit Rescue (CFR) was founded by the community, for the community. Our primary goal is to harvest and distribute the surplus urban fruit growing throughout the Boulder region to reduce food waste, protect local wildlife, build resilient communities, and direct fresh food to people who need it. 

Our impact

Now 10 years later, CFR has harvested over 160,000 lbs of fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste and attracted bears into residential yards. Our small but mighty team organizes neighborhood harvests where backyard fruit trees are gleaned by volunteers in the course of a fun community event. After each harvest, the fruit is sorted up and donated to food insecure individuals and families through partner sites such as Community Food Share, Boulder Food Rescue, Longmont Food Rescue, local schools, and even the "lesser quality" fruit is utilized and donated to animal sanctuaries such as the Wild Animal Sanctuary and Good Life Refuge.

Additional programming and community support

In addition to harvesting, CFR strives to provide additional community support by facilitating fruit preservation classes, equipping people with the skills to safely and effectively preserve fresh fruit and help keep their cupboards full longer. We also developed our new tree care program to empower fruit tree owners to better manage their trees, ensuring they produce healthy and nutritious fruit from which our community benefits.

Your donation

Community Fruit Rescue is a small, largely volunteer-led organization. By making a tax-deductible donation today on Colorado Gives Day, you will enable our team to:

• Increase gleaning operations by 50% in 2025
• Expand our harvest program to additional municipalities throughout Boulder County such as Longmont, Lafayette, Lyons, and Louisville
• Support tree stewards who are experiencing notable bear activity in/near their fruit trees by prioritizing their homes with our fruit harvest services
• Expand our Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Harvest Program (i.e. allow individuals to rent our harvest equipment and self-harvest fruit)
• Offer fruit preservation workshops throughout Boulder County to teach community members how to make healthy, shelf-stable fruit products and minimize additional food waste
• Offer fruit tree care services and workshops to enhance the wellbeing of residential fruit trees, a valuable source of food for Boulder's community members

Thank you for supporting Community Fruit Rescue!