FEEDING A COMMUNITY, ONE FRUIT TREE AT A TIME

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Arav Bansal. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

From an early age, Arav Bansal enjoyed interacting with his neighbors. But he never knew those interactions would later inspire him to feed a community.

As a young child, Arav’s neighbors had apricot trees that would hang over the fence into his yard. When the neighbors had extra apricots, they would allow Arav to pick some and bring them home. When Arav relocated to Cupertino, he saw leftover fruit splattered on the sidewalk, triggering a memory of the neighbors’ generosity with their leftover fruit. On a school service trip to a local food pantry, Arav saw how many people don’t have access to fresh produce. This moment served as what Arav says was the “kicker” in his inspiration to form an organization that battles both sustainability and food insecurity.

Arav established FruitShare, an organization with a mission to reduce waste by providing homeowners with the resources they need to put their surplus fruits to good use. FruitShare dispatches volunteers to pick fruit from homeowners’ trees and then has it brought to local food pantries.

Not only is picking the fruit a service to homeowners, but the fruit also benefits those dealing with food insecurity.

While Arav is a rising high school senior dealing with the ups and downs of homework and regular teen responsibilities, he takes the time to handle the daily responsibilities of the organization, too. He fields requests from homeowners looking to have their fruit picked, and delegates picking sessions to volunteers. He also maintains the organization’s website and helps with outreach. He spends up to 12 hours per month coordinating FruitShare’s dedicated missions.

“I think that’s what has enabled us to be as successful as we’ve been,” says Aditya Jha, who co-founded the organization with Arav. “Both of us just genuinely want to help others. I’ve seen that drive in Arav, and that’s something that impresses me about him. He’s able to go out week after week and communicate with homeowners, schedule the pickings and do outreach.”

Arav cites the interactions with the homeowners and their diverse reasons for requesting the FruitShare team’s presence as his favorite part of the role. While some are elderly and cannot pick the fruit any longer, others have medication interactions with the fruit they grow. Others simply grow so much they can’t keep up with the amount they’re producing.

“Even if they contribute 30 pounds or 200 pounds, it’s one small step toward our bigger goal of making an impact, reducing waste and giving fresh produce to people,” says Arav.

In the long term, Arav is hoping to expand FruitShare’s volunteer base so they can help more homeowners and feed more people. But when it comes to the opportunities we have to help those around us, Arav is adamant that it doesn’t take much to make a big difference.

“I think everyone can help in one way or another. Even if it’s the smallest thing, like helping out like your neighbor once a week to take out the trash cans,” he explains. “Even the smallest task can be so transformative in the community.”

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Arav? Find local volunteer opportunities.