History

History and Accomplishments

Village Harvest was started in 2001 by founder Joni Diserens as a volunteer project of the Foundation for Global Community, 4H Club and the Master Gardeners, combining interests in fruit preservation, gardening, and making good use of abundant fruit for the community.  When our first community harvest event in Palo Alto, California, yielded 1200 lbs. of citrus for the Food Bank and smiles all around, we knew we were onto something good.  That first year an emerging group of volunteers harvested about 5,000 lbs., and the organization was formally incorporated in March 2002. 

Since then we've grown to become one of the largest organizations of this type.  With rapidly growing numbers of volunteers, homes, and recipients, we applied Silicon Valley technology and business skills to create the software and "virtual organization" that enable us to manage the thousands of homes and volunteers that now participate.

Village Harvest is a volunteer-run organization, with over 900 individual volunteers now contributing their time and talents every year in harvesting, preserving, and education.  Our People page has information on organization leaders.