We are so grateful to have the support of the Winnipeg Foundation Community Grants Program for the second year in a row this summer. Their support is allowing us to make improvements to our structure and systems, while continuing to grow and serve the needs of our volunteers and fruit owners.

Our goal is to make Fruit Share a user-friendly, volunteer driven, self-sufficient organization that has the capacity to engage community members from across the city to harvest, share and enjoy unused fruit growing in backyards. The tremendous growth we’ve seen since our start-up in 2010 demonstrates that many Winnipeggers believe in this goal.

In order to cope with our growth and maintain our positive momentum, we need to put some work in behind the scenes. Our new scheduling system and volunteer and fruit owner databases are examples of some of the projects that are in the works. We also need to plan for the future of Fruit Share by creating a governing structure, an operations plan and a volunteer engagement strategy. Our grant from the Winnipeg Foundation is allowing us to achieve these goals, while managing our daily operations.

We’d also like to thank Food Matters Manitoba, who is administering this grant for us. Without their support and guidance, we would be unable to grow and succeed as an organization.