Free Fruit can't be bad... can it?

Free fruit __can__ be bad, just ask Eve. That said, there’s nothing wrong with what you’re dong, it __would__ be wrong to let those apples go to waste. If the kids don’t want them, there’s no sense throwing them out. Someone should talk to them about scurvy though.

Is there a local food bank the leftover fruit can be given to? Maybe some parents can volunteer to pick up the fruit and deliver it.

Yeah, if there are more left than are being consumed, I’d see about donating the leftovers to a homeless shelter or soup kitchen or something. I hate seeing food go to waste when so many people in this world are hungry.

When I worked for a conservation organization that bred endangered species of animals, we had a large population of fruit eaters. I had a group of volunteers that would drive to the major grocery chains in the surrounding towns and pick up the fruit that was being thrown away – for being “old” or bruised or otherwise not perfect. The fruit was perfectly edible. We would pick up literally hundreds of pounds of fruit every day, from just a few stores. And that was just at the end stage. Who knows how much is lost in the fields, during harvest, during transportation, and during distribution.

The amount of waste in our system is mind boggling.

I think as long as you aren’t selling them, or making them into pies and selling those, then you’re in the clear. Now if you can give the ones you don’t eat to a soup kitchen as others have mentioned, then you should feel no guilt at all.

@syz I think a lot of the “ugly” produce is used for things that require it to be cut up. Think applesauce, baby carrots, french fries. There is still a lot of waste though, I’m sure. I sometimes buy the not-optimal apples at the store for a reduced price to make applesauce, or veggies that are just past their prime for our rabbit.

@MissAusten this produce was literally going into the dumpster out back if we didn’t pick it up.

I think it is fantastic you are doing this! In our town people collect extra food at all types of locations and bring it to the local food bank. Then for work (I work for low-income housing) we go pick up the food and bring it to our residents. Un-wasted food is a true blessing. Enjoy it. I think it is fabulous you aren’t wasting!!!! It is also probably a blessing to the school because I bet they aren’t allowed to keep food past a certain amount of time. We aren’t. So you are helping them not waste. I really see no bad in this.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies A private school near my home has an apple pie day each year to raise funds. Maybe you could start something like that with the collected fruit?

I think the kids should not be allowed to leave the table till all of it is eaten.

What about starting Blessings in a Backpack at your school and sending the fruit home with kids?

@PandoraBoxx

The ACLU shut down the boyscouts from using the school gym because they have the word God in their manifesto somewhere. You suggest a great program but the school would never be able to get away with anything that had the word “Blessings” in it.

Fruitcakes

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies How is the word blessing implicitly religious?

@RedPowerLady

It’s probably just me. But I personally associate blessing from a higher power.
Blessings from above

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Well if we could do polls maybe we’d find out who else associates with that. I don’t. Interesting.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies, that’s not true. The controversy with the Boy Scouts stems from the case of James Dale, who from age 8 through 18, was an exemplary scout. He was accepted into the adult program and became an assistant scoutmaster, but was kicked out because the Boy Scouts forbid membership to homosexuals. The Boy Scouts promotes itself as an organization that “Any Boy” may join.

If the school has a problem with the Boy Scouts holding meetings in its building, it has nothing to do with “God” being in the pledge. It has to do with the organization being discriminatory, and a public school cannot promote discriminatory organizations.

That’s very interesting. I’ll let the scoutmaster know. We were all very disappointed when he read the letter at the last pinewood derby to be held in the school. It did not speak of what you address. It specifically rejected the reference to God being associated with anything in a parochial school facility.

The school board didn’t have a problem with it. They were simply reacting to a threat of legal action against them. Easier to stop than invest in lawyers to check it all out and challenge.

But your comments are very appropriate. Thanks.

It specifically rejected the reference to God being associated with anything in a parochial school facility.
@RealEyesRealizeRealLies, did you mean public school? Surely disassociating God from a parochial school constitutes an oxymoron?

Oh jeez why did I say that…? Good catch! It is a public school. There is no Vicar to dodge. My first son went to Catholic school. The second son is in the public system. Color me confused.

Why waste food? That’s stupid.
If the guilt really gets you down, donate some to a shelter or food pantry