EPA Healthy Resilient Sustainable Communities Grant Improving Community Health & Preventing Wasted Food Project Partners PDX Fruit Tree Trash for Peace Thanks to an EPA Region 10 Healthy Resilient Sustainable Communities grant, Community Environmental Services at Portland State University, Portland Fruit Tree Project, and Trash for Peace are working on a project to improve fruit quality and rescue fruit from city trees. For this project, CES will engage local property owners and residents to identify and cultivate healthy fruit trees, harvest the fruit, and redistribute it along with educational materials on food waste prevention to low-income multifamily properties in Portland, Oregon. This project will prevent edible food from going to waste by building residents’ food waste prevention knowledge and promote community health by providing fresh produce in areas with limited access. It will also strengthen local networks for growing and distributing food. Project efforts will serve the Rockwood Station Apartments located in Portland, Oregon in eastern Multnomah County. Project Goals: Reduce carbon emissions caused by wasted food Encourage locally grown food practices Increase access to fresh fruit for people living in multifamily housing Increase knowledge of how to prevent wasted food Prevent fruit waste from urban trees Promote the value of planting fruit trees Educate property owners about tree care and quality of fruit, reducing tree disease and pests Strengthen communities by providing locally grown produce East Portland Fruit Rescue Project Website Learn more! Enter Tree Info In the news PSU Research Feature EPA Region 10 Press Release HRSC Grant Summary Project Happenings The Trash for Peace Team Toney, Miriam, Dane (Project Lead) Maria, and Alondra Toney, Miriam, Maria, & Alondra are the Environmental Promoters on the outreach team and will distribute rescued fruit and educational materials to residents of Rockwood Station. Dane Kovaleski Project Lead Dane Kovaleski is a first year graduate student in the Professional Master's of Science in Environmental Science and Management program here at PSU. Project & volunteer info Fruit Tree Indexing Team CES Staff Trained to Identify and Index Fruit Trees in Winter 2023 Portland Fruit Tree Project experts trained CES to identify fruit trees in winter and spring. CES surveyed hundreds of houses in East Portland and added 96 new trees to PFTP's tree database. Food Waste Prevention Demonstration at Rockwood Landing Portland Fruit Tree and CES presented a food waste prevention demo Rockwood Landing residents attended a food waste prevention event by CES and the Portland Fruit Tree Project. The event featured juice, fruit leather, fridge bins, stickers, and preservation demos. Pedalpalooza: A Fruit Tree Finding Ride CES and PFTP created our own Pedalpalooza ride to find and ID trees 16 riders and walkers joined the Fruit Finding Fun Ride on July 9, 2022. 108 trees were identified and logged, and much fun was had by all! Previous Hero Slide Next Hero Slide Disclaimer: This project was developed under Assistance Agreement No. X9-01J98401-0 awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It has not been formally reviewed by EPA. The views expressed are solely those of Portland State University/Community Environmental Services and EPA does not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned.