CALIBER

Last Friday (April 30) was Arbor Day, and also the groundbreaking of a new fruit tree orchard for Project Homeless Connect’s Growing Home Community Garden in the heart of Hayes Valley. The orchard was donated and planted through a partnership between Dreyer’s Fruit Bars and the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF) to bestow an ongoing source of fresh fruit for San Francisco’s homeless community.

Volunteers from Project Homeless Connect, the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and Dreyer’s were on hand to plant the trees, with Dreyer’s providing Fruit Bars and passing out strawberry plants and fruit trees to members of the community. Dreyer’s Fruit Bars and the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation are on a mission to place fresh fruit orchards in dozens of communities across the United States. The orchard at Project Homeless Connect in San Francisco is one example of how communities and organizations nationwide will benefit from the Dreyer’s “Communities Take Root” program, which offers deserving communities across the country a chance to reap the rewards of their own fresh fruit supply with help from voters nationwide (www.communitiestakeroot.com).

Project Homeless Connect makes a difference in the lives of the City’s homeless by bringing together almost 250 non-profit agencies, private businesses and volunteers to assist San Franciscans in need. Since the program’s inception in October 2004 as a joint effort of San Francisco’s health care, housing and human service systems, Project Homeless Connect has been supported by tens of thousands of volunteers, individuals and companies giving their time, cash, clothing, food and essential services. To date, this program has provided services to thousands of the City’s most economically disadvantaged men, women and children with basic human needs and housing.

The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF, www.ftpf.org) is an international nonprofit charity dedicated to planting fruitful trees and plants to alleviate world hunger, combat global warming, strengthen communities, and improve the surrounding air, soil, and water. FTPF programs strategically donate orchards where the harvest will best serve communities for generations, at places such as public schools, city parks, low-income neighborhoods, Native American reservations, and international hunger relief sites.

You can see more photos from the day’s events here.