Become a member of ProduceGood’s active and engaged community of volunteers of all ages and abilities who share an interest in alleviating hunger and waste and who have provided 750,000 nutritious, fresh servings to food-insecure San Diegans since we began. Opportunities to volunteer in any or all of our 3 food recovery venues take you to outdoor locales in San Diego County to work alongside staff and other volunteers. In some cases you may bring family members or friends with you. You commit to only one event at a time, register and sign a waiver online, and show up as promised to sign in and help get the job done.
Location: All programs take place at sites in SD County. Volunteers must have reliable transportation unless they live within the environs of one of our event sites. Site information is as follows:
- Market Share: Current Opportunities at La Jolla, Hillcrest, Solana Beach Farmers Markets
- CropSwap Backyard Harvests: Current opening in various North County cities
Help us recover unwanted fruits and vegetables in order to feed the 1 in 6 people of San Diego County who do not know where their next meal is coming from. Join other volunteers of all ages, abilities and beliefs to collect unsold produce at farmers markets or harvest fruit or veggies in backyard orchards or small farms–together we will solve the problem of hunger and waste in one sweet step.
Food Recovery Volunteer
Each of our programs offers a unique opportunity for volunteers to aid in the process of harvesting fresh fruit and/or vegetables. You commit to one event at a time by signing up on the calendar of our home page. You sign a waiver and agree to rules of safety and conduct and transport yourself to the event.
- CropSwap Big Pick: 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays Jan-Aug, with some fall dates. All ages. Gets you in a north county residential orchard with the butterflies and bees, picking citrus by hand or with a picker pole and preparing it for transport.
- CropSwap Quick Pick: 9a.m.-11 a.m. weekdays Jan-Aug, with some fall dates. All ages. Gets you in a north county residential orchard with the butterflies and bees, picking citrus by hand or with a picker pole and preparing it for transport.
- Bumper Crop: Sundays from 8am to 11am .Adults 18 and over . This volunteer job gets you out on the farm picking in the field and sometimes bundling fruits and/or vegetables for transport to local agencies.
- Market Share: Sundays mid to late afternoon all year. Adults 18 and over. Takes place at Farmers Markets in SD County. Gets you involved with logistics, engaging with vendors to determine need, dropping collapsible bins, picking up the bins and assisting with weighing and packing produce for transport, as necessary.
Market Boss Lead
Lead a volunteer team at a San Diego Farmers Market to pick up fruits and vegetables donated by specific farmer/vendors that will be organized and then handed over to approved nonprofits that feed at-risk individuals who are food-insecure. After serving as a Market Share volunteer, use your leadership skills to oversee a market event, guiding a small volunteer team to engage in the activities necessary to pick up donated produce, get it weighed and attributed, then sorted and bundled for pick up by receiving agencies that feed food-insecure children and adults. You will be interacting with volunteers of all ages, abilities and beliefs as well as market vendors and receiving agency representatives lined up for the event. In this core volunteer role you will be serving as a ProduceGood ambassador, using your energy and commitment to our mission to get the job done and perhaps make new contacts to drive our success further.
Crop Swap Pick Boss or Farm Boss
Lead a volunteer team at various private orchards in San Diego. After serving as a CropSwap volunteer, use your leadership skills to oversee a backyard gleaning event, guiding groups of up to 20 people of all ages in the field, educating them in the history of gleaning, best gleaning practices and interacting and encouraging community building. You will interact with the homeowner/grower, representing ProduceGood and its mission of food recovery in San Diego.
You will oversee and manage our best practices and protocols for harvesting different types of citrus fruit.
Scheduler
Driver
Make a difference in San Diego by transporting produce from residential orchards, farmers markets or small farms to our partners who feed seniors, veterans, children and other individuals in need. Being a ProduceGood driver helps us fulfil our mission by supplying our network of receiving agencies who benefit over 500,000 food insecure San Diegans with a steady and fresh supply of produce. As a volunteer driver for ProduceGood, you will drive to a pick-up location in your car and transport fruits and vegetables to local agencies. “Pick-up” locations include Hillcrest, La Jolla, and Solana Beach Farmers Markets, several small farms in Encinitas and a variety of north county residences and “Drop-off” locations are typically within 5-10 miles of pick-up.
Advisor
(bring your skills to help improve how we operate our organization)
