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—Home Harvest

Our volunteers harvest excess food from fruit trees and vegetable gardens, ensuring nothing goes to waste.

—Home Harvest is an innovative program that targets food waste in our own backyards.

COVID-19 Guidelines

The Home Harvest program allows for community members with gardens or fruit trees to have their produce harvested, while also increasing access locally grown food. We recognize that it can be extremely difficult to obtain access to land to grow food these days and believe that everyone should have equal access to locally grown food. A minimum of half of each harvest will be donated to a service agency. Volunteers who are harvesting food have the opportunity to keep the other half of the donation. This opens up access to those who might not otherwise be able to access it.

If the volunteer doesn’t want any, they can donate their half to the receiving service agency as well.

Volunteering to harvest food is free to anyone, and volunteers will have the ability to take home some food. You can start volunteering by downloading our Rescue Food App.

Home Harvest 1
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Would you like to donate your harvest?

Donate Your Harvest

Already Signed Up as a Grower? Login to Set Up a Harvest or Pickup!

Grower Portal

In Edmonton, Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton has handed over backyard fruit rescue to the Home Harvest program. You can find out more about the partnership and find more information about OFRE’s continued programming.

In Calgary, Leftovers is partnering with Calgary Harvest to maximize food harvest and rescue potential in our community together.

Since its inception in 2020, the Home Harvest program has harvested over 4061 lbs. of locally grown food.

Our volunteers harvested rhubarb, lettuce, apples, crabapples, baby tomatoes, carrots, zucchini and beets in 2021

Launched in 2020

The program launched in 2020 in Calgary and Edmonton and is expanding this year.

In 2021, 3,185 pounds of fruit were harvested in Edmonton and Calgary

The Home Harvest program relies on the generosity of neighbours just like you. If you have any excess food in your own yard, from fruit trees, gardens, or plants, sign up as a grower and donate some of your harvest.

Donate Your Harvest

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COVID-19 Guidelines

VolunteersGrowers
Hello Volunteers,
THANK YOU for your commitment to reducing food waste and helping those experiencing food insecurity!
Below are some COVID guidelines to keep in mind while harvesting on behalf of Home Harvest:
  • You must SIGN A WAIVER prior to attending a harvest
  • Volunteers who sign up in the app must keep a record of everyone who attends each harvest with them so that they can be notified if needed for contact-tracing purposes
  • Please WEAR A MASK throughout the harvest and WASH YOUR HANDS/USE HAND SANITIZER before and after the harvest (and during, if necessary). Contact help@rescuefood.ca if you’d like a reusable mask.
  • PHYSICAL DISTANCING MUST BE PRACTICED AT ALL TIMES. Please ensure you maintain physical distance from individuals not in your cohort, including other harvest volunteers and growers. 
  • DO NOT HARVEST FOOD if you and/or someone that you have been in close contact with is not feeling well, has travelled within 14 days, has been in contact with a confirmed case of the Coronavirus, or are awaiting test results.
  • SANITIZE SURFACES you come in contact with (fences, gates, tools, equipment) before and after the harvest.
  • LEAVE NO TRACE. Please take home any sanitizing equipment, masks and garbage created throughout the pick. 
  • Practice NO CONTACT DROP OFFS at agencies (ensure that the food is in a safe/covered area).
  • Bags or boxes that you are using to contain/transport the harvested food do not need to be sterilized, but please ensure they are clean.
Please Note: Volunteers are not responsible for washing fruit before donation to charities. Charities that accept fruit donations will be responsible for fruit washing before food preparation and/or eating.
If you have any questions at all, please email us at help@rescuefood.ca. Thank you so much for your help and willingness to be there for our community!
Hello Growers,
THANK YOU for your commitment to reducing food waste and helping those experiencing food insecurity!
Below are some COVID guidelines to keep in mind when requesting a harvest:
  • CANCEL YOUR HARVEST REQUEST if you and/or someone that you have been in contact with is not feeling well, has travelled within 14 days, has been in close contact with a confirmed case of the Coronavirus, or are awaiting test results.
  • If you choose to keep some of the harvested food, please WASH IT BEFORE CONSUMING.
  • Please avoid contact with harvest volunteers. If you do interact with them in person, please ensure you MAINTAIN PHYSICAL DISTANCE AND WEAR A MASK. 
If you have any questions at all, please email us at help@rescuefood.ca. Thank you so much for your help and willingness to be there for our community!

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Kin Volunteer

We’re currently recruiting volunteers who want to help serve coffee and be a part of a fun new social initiative.

  • Volunteer shifts are 4 hours long
  • Shifts are either 7am-11am or 11am-3pm
  • 2 people are needed per shift, so sign up with your partner or a friend
  • You can volunteer as little or as much as you’d like
  • Sign-ups will be live on the Leftovers Rescue Food app soon

There will be a mandatory in-person training for all new Kin volunteers. This training will be brief, but will go over setup & tear down, food safety, POS terminal instruction and PWYW info.

If you’re interested in volunteering, please send an email to kin@rescuefood.ca expressing which shift and dates you’re interested in covering.

Volunteer

*Please note that all Kin volunteers need to be vaccinated as per YMCA and AHS Covid Policy.*

Learn more about Kin

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Friday, September 30th

Today we are observing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We encourage you to read the 94 Calls to Action and commit to working towards at least one of them.

94 Calls to Action

You can also donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.

Donate

COVID-19 Guidelines - Growers

Hello Growers,
THANK YOU for your commitment to reducing food waste and helping those experiencing food insecurity!
Below are some COVID guidelines to keep in mind when requesting a harvest:
  • CANCEL YOUR HARVEST REQUEST if you and/or someone that you have been in contact with is not feeling well, has travelled within 14 days, has been in close contact with a confirmed case of the Coronavirus, or are awaiting test results.
  • If you choose to keep some of the harvested food, please WASH IT BEFORE CONSUMING.
  • Please avoid contact with harvest volunteers. If you do interact with them in person, please ensure you MAINTAIN PHYSICAL DISTANCE AND WEAR A MASK. 
If you have any questions at all, please email us at help@rescuefood.ca. Thank you so much for your help and willingness to be there for our community!

COVID-19 Update

Hello Leftovers Partners and Volunteers,

Your commitment to reducing food waste and increasing food access in our community is so incredibly valued – THANK YOU!

Due to COVID-19, many businesses are temporarily shutting their doors and cancelling events. As a result, we have seen a significant change in the frequency and volume of donations. At the same time, access to food has never been more difficult for many members of our community. Whether it’s students who have been isolated from their only meals of the day, seniors who are at-risk every time they leave home, or the many who have recently lost their jobs due to this crisis, we are seeing an unprecedented need for access to food.

  • Please ensure that all donations are covered/wrapped.
  • Please wear a mask and wash your hands/use sanitizer frequently when handling food donations. Do not touch the food itself. Contact help@rescuefood.ca if you’d like a reuseable mask.
  • Practice no-contact drop offs at agencies (ensure that the food is in a safe/covered area).
  • Do not rescue food if you and/or someone that you have been in contact with is not feeling well, has travelled within 14 days, or been in contact with a confirmed case of the Coronavirus.

We are posting changes/cancellations to food donation routes on the app as they come in. All routes that are posted on the app are as up-to-date as possible. If a donor or agency tells you they’d like to cancel or change hours, please email this feedback to heidi@rescuefood.ca (Calgary), nicole@rescuefood.ca (Edmonton) or juliakraemer@rescuefood.ca (Winnipeg) so we can update the app.

If you have any questions at all, please email us at help@rescuefood.ca. Thank you so much for your help and willingness to be there for our community!

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