We Need Your Help!
You can help our "Thanks a Ton" program in two ways:
- Donate. Each $100 donation pays to pick, pack, and deliver a HALF TON of fresh oranges to local homeless shelters and food banks. There aren't that many other ways to help so many people with such a modest donation...and of course your donations are 100% tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Simply download our printable Citrus Supporter Form. Print it out, fill it out, and send it to us with a check made out to "Inland Orange Conservancy", to the following address:
Inland Orange Conservancy
PO Box 188
Mentone, CA 92359You will receive a tax acknowledgment via U.S. Mail.
Soon, we'll be able to process your donations online. However, we don't yet have the ability to accept credit cards for donations.
- Volunteer. Can you spare a few hours once a week to pack oranges, or deliver a carload to people in need? Join our "Peels on Wheels" delivery team, and help get fresh, local fruit to those who need it most. Contact the Inland Orange Conservancy at 909-794-4484 or inlandorange@hotmail.com to let us know you want to help.
History of the Thanks a Ton Program
Toward the end of the 2005 Valencia orange season, the Inland Orange Conservancy noticed that low-income people were going hungry in the same neighborhoods where groves heavily laden with oranges were left unpicked. The fruit was simply left to rot because growers would have to pay more to harvest it than they would make by selling it.
Commercial agriculture is incredibly wasteful because "marketable" oranges need to be large, spherical, and identical...the better to be stacked in pyramids in a supermarket on the other side of the globe. Perfectly good oranges fall to the ground uneaten because they are too small, come from the wrong area, or have blemishes on their skin. Yet they're still delicious, juicy, and healthy.
To waste such an abundance of tasty citrus seemed like a shame. And our existing relationships with growers and local nonprofit agency Inland Harvest made it easy to do the right thing.
Gleaning: Making the Most of Our Crop
The IOC sprang into action, asking for volunteers to pick, pack, and deliver the fruit to those in need. Gleaning is a time-honored tradition that ensures that no part of the crop is wasted, and we're proud to introduce it to our growers and Citrus Supporters.
By the end of the 2005 Valencia season, we had donated 49 tons of citrus fruit to Inland Harvest—in fact, we became Inland Harvest's largest donor in the course of one season! The "Thanks a Ton" program accounted for 22 tons of donations. And we couldn't have done it without our Citrus Supporters. Thank you!
2006 Update: Due to the relatively dry, warm winter we've just experienced, the navel orange crop is producing many small fruits that are ripening and dropping early. This is a disaster for commercial growers—the fruit isn't big enough to sell, and it's dropping too quickly to get it to market.
Our 2006 "Thanks a Ton" program is starting up early to try to make the most of this extra fruit. If you can donate or volunteer, please do!
Need More Information?
If you have questions about the "Thanks a Ton" program, pleaes feel free to call the Inland Orange Conservancy at 909-794-4484 or email us at inlandorange@hotmail.com.