Trees across the Valley are ripe with fruit right now, and St. Mary’s Food Bank is welcoming donations of home-grown citrus.
“We’re talking about oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, lemons. And often they have multiple trees and too much to give away or to give to family members or neighbors,” said St. Mary’s Foodbank spokesperson Jerry Brown. “This is an awesome opportunity to get that fruit off the tree before it goes bad and give it to a food bank so that we can distribute it to folks who really need it.”
Brown said the food bank distributes hundreds of thousands of pounds of donated citrus each year.
St. Mary’s will accept citrus fruit donations at its Phoenix and Surprise warehouses Monday through Friday through the end of April.
The food bank is also hosting citrus drop-off events in early February.
Citrus drop-off events
9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1, and Saturday Feb. 8:
Desert Garden United Church of Christ
18818 N. 128th Ave., Sun City West 85375
Shepherd of the Hills United Church of Christ
5524 E. Lafayette Blvd., Phoenix 85018
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