CTAHR NEWS

Help at the Garden

Volunteers helped grow and gather 14,000 lbs of fresh fruits and vegetables to donate

  • 30 January 2020
  • Author: Frederika Bain
  • Number of views: 5093
  • 0 Comments
Help at the Garden

Situated in the Oʻahu Urban Garden Center, the “Fruit Orchard” is a subtropical collection of mango, avocado, citrus, lychee, and other exotic fruit trees. 

The orchard is an education site, used by CTAHR to teach commercial producers, students, home gardeners, seniors, and Extension staff, as well as a repository for germplasm and a resource for research.

Throughout the year, the orchard is made available to the federal Department of Agriculture, Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture, Hawai‘i Tropical Fruit Growers, college classes, schoolchildren, seniors, and many more organizations and individuals. 

On any given day, regardless of rain or blazing hot sun, a dedicated group of volunteers can be found in the Fruit Orchard. They maintain the grounds and trees, volunteering some 9,000 hours annually. They also collect surplus fruit and vegetables to donate to the Hawaiʻi Food Bank—a total of 14,000 pounds in 2019, and all of it fresh and nutritious!

Recently the volunteers gathered to celebrate another year of work well done and fresh fruit well cultivated. Mahalo nui loa to every one of the volunteers at UGC and throughout the CTAHR ‘ohana!

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