Pierce County Gleaning Project

The Pierce County Gleaning Project helps fight hunger and build community by recruiting volunteers to harvest local produce that would otherwise be wasted for county food banks and hot meal sites. We accomplish this by harvesting excess produce from neighborhood fruit trees, local farms and farmer's market vendors, and gardeners who plant an extra row for the hungry.

The Pierce County Gleaning Project was founded in 2009 and is a collaboration between the Emergency Food Network, St. Leo Food Connection, and Rotary First Harvest’s “Harvest Against Hunger Program” to provide more fresh produce to county food banks – which serve 147,000 client visits monthly. In 2010, volunteers harvested over 8,300 lbs of produce from fruit trees and farmer’s markets for food banks.