Re: the Jan. 14 article "Food banks seeking surplus citrus to help those in need."
Please mention the website iskashitaa.org and our need for people to register to have their trees harvested online at www.iskashitaa.org/donate-your-fruit .
Statistics and facts that may bring this into perspective:
Iskashitaa harvests and gleans between 150,000 to 200,000 pounds annually. Since our humble beginnings refugees and volunteers have harvested over one million pounds.
Last year we harvested 900 pounds or 2567 lemons from one tree in one year — the average lifetime of a citrus tree is 50 years. More than 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins will be thrown out in the U.S., adding tons of waste to landfills. Iskashitaa harvests dates and the average lifetime of a date palm is 120 years. We are the only gleaning services available to capture 321 pounds off on pomegranate shrub in one year.
People are also reading…
Wasting fruit is the same as wasting water in the Sonoran desert.
Barbara Eiswerth
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
