The SaddleBrooke Fruit Pickers (SB Pickers) recently ended their picking season for the year after a spectacular three months of picking fruit throughout SaddleBrooke. The SB Pickers is a group founded four years ago by Dotti McKee and Jill Darban along with a few others who saw the need for fruit to be harvested in SaddleBrooke. The 75 volunteer residents from SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch pick SaddleBrooke fruit for donation to non-profits, missions, food banks and other community non-profit food centers. Their mission is two-fold;
- Provide the SaddleBrooke community an easily accessible resource to harvest the citrus fruit being grown in the community; and
- Provide the less fortunate and those in need in the greater Tucson area with the quality citrus fruit that grows in the SaddleBrooke community.
The 2026 season began on Friday, January 16 and each Saturday into mid-April, 15 to 20 of the volunteers would gather to pick as many as 20 locations throughout SaddleBrooke. The 2026 harvest from 16 picking days was nearly 600 boxes of fruit from 134 locations. The estimated weight of the seasons harvest, a staggering 11 tons. WOW!
A huge thank you must go to a lot of people, starting with the homeowners that donate their fruit; some each and every year. Without their donation, we could not do what we do. Gerta, who leaves us cookies every year, thank you. Del, whose oranges squeeze the best OJ, thanks. And to the many, many others, thank you.
Thanks goes to the recipients donating their time and labor. One of our largest recipients was The Gospel Rescue Mission with Donna O’Shea delivering boxes of lemons. She purchased a commercial juicer and residents obtained community service hours by juicing our lemons; thank you Donna. The list of non-profit recipients includes the Mammoth Tri Community Food Bank, Hawser Impact Food Bank, Interfaith Community Services Food Bank on Ina Road, Lend a Hand in downtown Tucson and Primavera Foundation. Without them, we would have no purpose, and a lot of fruit would be wasted.
When the abundance of fruit exceeded the needs of the non-profits, SB Pickers donated to other community members, including the SaddleBrooke fire stations, Sammy’s, Café Bavaria, Fork and Knife, Mi Tierra and Carlotta’s and delivered to the HOA-1 Agave Lounge staff. Free fruit boxes were often placed at Desert Pharmacy, the Mini-Mart and at volunteer’s homes curbside for neighbors.
And a special thank you goes to Tom Martin, who picked up oranges on most picking days to squeeze them into juice for delivery to our less mobile senior residents in SaddleBrooke.
And finally, thanks must go to each and every one on the SB Pickers team for their commitment of time and labor, and the support they provide to the Tucson community. Thank you to our delivery drivers, Mike and Linda, Dotti, Sally, Tina, Sue, Joanne, Pat (Lend a Hand with his truck) and others. Gratitude abounds and we have many testimonials from those that receive the fruit. It was an amazing and fulfilling season for the volunteers. Your support in volunteering, the appreciation from our fruit owners, and the sincere gratitude from each of our recipients made it all worthwhile. Job Well Done!
In 2027, if you are a SaddleBrooke resident and have fruit trees that you are unable to harvest yourself or need help harvesting, or you simply would like to donate the fruit to the Tucson community, email Dotti McKee via email at dottimck@gmail.com or send a text to (703) 795-6499.
And if you are looking to fill a couple of hours of your winter Saturdays with fun, friendship, and fruit as part of our volunteer team, please join us in 2027. To join our volunteer group, email Corey Loyd via email at gcoreyloyd@msn.com or send a text to (907) 227-1133 and we’ll put you on our volunteer list.
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