Bounty Hunters Update for 2021 season

Have you ever been so busy doing that you forget to tell others what it is you’re so busy doing? That describes Bounty Hunters operations to a “T”.

Although we haven’t been able to secure funding for coordination of this important program, we have been fortunate in receiving help and leadership from different sources. This blog will serve to share program highlights, ongoing activities, and reminders of how you can get involved!

Program Updates

First, we have a new volunteer Volunteer Coordinator for Bounty Hunters, Tera. She’s also receiving academic credit through the SRJC as she expands her learning in Dietetics and Nutrition courses. See below for her video introduction and updates! Tera has been a great asset to our efforts since day one!

Second, North Bay Conservation Corps staff are lending a two-person crew to Petaluma Bounty while they learn the ropes of food recovery. “CalRecycle Conservation Corps North Bay (CCNB)  and Zero Waste Sonoma, a regional government agency, jointly received a CalRecycle food rescue grant, through which CCNB can offer (subsidized) grant funded labor for the next 6 months. This grant was funded to reduce organic material ending up in our landfills and is directly related to SB 1383.”

For the next few months, CCNB sends a crew to Petaluma to pick up produce from the Tuesday East Side farmers’ market as well as local gleans that our volunteers cannot get to. Ultimately, CCNB will be expanding their efforts to prepared food across Sonoma County on a fee for service model. But in the mean time, we’re providing them some mentorship and training while they wait for their specialized equipment and building their capacity.

Lastly, Petaluma Bounty was honored to speak to a national network of federal government workers involved with Feds Feed Families. We were asked to share about our on-the-ground level operations and how that relates to the larger food recovery movement. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to relay some of the systems complexities, values shifts, and regional considerations, I put together the following presentation for this audience and it was met with great interest and pondering!

Ongoing activities:

Bounty Hunters continues to be active out in our community where high quality, locally grown food that is going to waste gets redirected to our emergency food outlets. We do this in three main ways:

  1. We send out volunteer gleaners to pick produce that home owners or residents cannot get to.
  2. We promote local drop sites for people who are capable of harvesting their own fruit.
  3. We will pick up already harvested un-cut produce from local farms or farmers’ markets and deliver them to local pantries.

For more information on what we do and why OR if you have too much produce, please click here: https://www.petalumabounty.org/take-action/food-donations/

If you want to Volunteer or Contribute:

If you are interested in volunteering, click on this link and read up on the ways you can volunteer. https://www.petalumabounty.org/programs/bounty-hunters/

Tera will be holding Volunteer Bounty Hunter Trainings on a rolling basis so make sure you fill out a volunteer form to get on our list!

If you would like to contribute funds for this program, please donate here: https://www.petalumabounty.org/take-action/donate/

One Reply to “Bounty Hunters Update for 2021 season”

  1. Alyson Wylie

    Love this presentation! I am new living in Sonoma County and work with Jenni Dye at Center for Healthy Communities at Chico State. I would love to come visit and see what you all are doing in the community.

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