Schools

Teen Offers 'Fruit for All'

Arcadia High School student Zach Selby started a nonprofit that collects excess fruit from back yards throughout the San Gabriel Valley for distribution to shelters and food banks.

senior Zach Selby had spent months trying to find a way to help others.

In the spring of 2010, he finally found his inspiration, thanks in part to a guava tree in his family's sprawling back yard.

"It was producing a lot of fruit, more than we could eat," Selby said.

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Having heard of groups in Washington and Oregon dedicated to picking excess fruit from backyard trees for donation to food banks and homeless shelters, Selby realized he could do the same right here in the San Gabriel Valley.

"People have decades-old trees here that are pretty prolific," Selby explained.

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Despite putting out hundreds of fliers in the beginning, Selby said only one resident called him to donate.

But an aggressive marketing campaign quickly changed the nonprofit's fortunes.

Today, Fruit For All has donated more than 43,000 pounds of fruit to people in need across the San Gabriel Valley and boasts around 20 regular volunteers. The organization's top clients include the Monrovia-based Foothill Unity Center and the Rescue Mission in Los Angeles.

Selby and Fruit For All have made waves throughout the community, earning a Volunteer of the Month award from Arcadia and an Unsung Heroes award from the California Community Foundation.

When Selby, who said he hopes to get accepted to USC's Marshall School of Business, leaves for college in August, his 15-year-old brother Jackson will take the reins of Fruit For All.

Jackson Selby says he plans to continue expanding the nonprofit and to ensure it will survive once he graduates in 2014. The Selby brothers are in the process of starting a Monrovia chapter and even received a call from a Florida woman interested in starting a chapter in her state.

If you live within a 20-mile radius of Arcadia, donating your excess produce to Fruit For All couldn't be easier.

Just call (626) 359-6666 or e-mail fruitforallkids(at)gmail.com to set up an appointment for Fruit For All volunteers to pick, collect and donate your fruit.


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