Planning Commission will revisit a police-backed proposal Tuesday to move last call to midnight as local bar owners warn of lost revenue and argue the city should target problem establishments instead.
Redlands police weekly update also includes four suspected DUI crashes and arrests, an attempted beer theft and a masked man arrested after fleeing officers
Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino's gleaning program harvests unwanted produce from local homes and properties, and even one productive tree can help.
Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino's gleaning program harvests unwanted produce from local homes and properties, and even one productive tree can help.
If you have a fruit tree in Redlands, chances are it produces more than your family can possibly eat.
Instead of letting that excess fruit go to waste, Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino (FARSB) offers another option. Through its gleaning program, the organization sends volunteers to harvest unwanted produce from homes, farms and other properties and distributes it through food assistance programs across the region.
For Redlands neurologist Dr. Rosabel Young, the program has found a home for thousands of pounds of oranges from the roughly 300 citrus trees growing on her five-acre farm.
Young sells part of her crop each year, but there is a relatively short window when oranges can be harvested for the commercial market. Once the fruit becomes too ripe to make its way through the traditional distribution system, plenty of good oranges can remain on the trees.
That's when FARSB comes in.
"They said, 'Well, we've got hungry people who need them tomorrow,'" Young recalled. "So the timing turned out to be right."
Young's relationship with the organization began around 2021, but her habit of giving away oranges started earlier. She would fill bags with fruit and take them along when she traveled to the mountains to ski, leaving oranges with people she knew there.
Eventually, word got around.
"One day I got a call from Feeding America Riverside, San Bernardino saying, 'Oh, we heard that you like to donate oranges,'" Young said. "'We can actually pick them for you and make it even easier.'"
In 2026 alone, FARSB has collected more than 10,000 pounds of oranges during multiple gleans at Young's property, according to figures provided by the organization.
And while Young's farm produces fruit on a much larger scale than the typical Redlands backyard, residents don't need hundreds — or even dozens — of trees to participate.
Luis Molina, Volunteer Manager with FARSB, said he has arranged gleans at homes with just one productive tree.
"Believe it or not, I've gone to properties that only have one tree, but they're very fruitful," he said.
The gleaning process begins when a property owner contacts FARSB.
Molina first arranges a site visit to assess how much produce is available and check the property for potential hazards. The property owner signs a waiver allowing the organization access, and a glean is scheduled.
For smaller properties, Molina may handle the harvest with a small group. Larger harvests can require 10 to 20 volunteers. FARSB accepts all types of produce, not just citrus.
Once picked, the produce is transported to FARSB's Riverside warehouse, where volunteers sort and bag it. Molina said gleaned produce is generally available for distribution to the organization's community partners by the following day.
FARSB works with several hunger-relief partners in Redlands, including The Salvation Army, Family Service Association of Redlands and the Boys & Girls Club.
Young has seen that process firsthand.
"It was nice going in there and seeing crates and crates of all my oranges that they had picked the day before," she said.
The speed of the process is part of what makes gleaning particularly useful for ripe fruit. Young can sell oranges during the earlier part of the harvest and donate good fruit that remains later in the season rather than leaving it on the trees.
Young said removing ripe fruit also helps prepare the trees for the next crop by keeping old fruit from continuing to draw water and nutrients or attracting pests.
The arrangement provides fresh produce for FARSB's hunger-relief network at the same time.
Molina said fresh fruits and vegetables are a welcome addition for people receiving food assistance, particularly given the cost of produce.
"I know just hearing from different people at different sites, they do appreciate fresh produce when they get it," he said.
The gleaning program has collected about 49,000 pounds of produce so far this year, Molina said.
The program has also given Kimberly Crest House & Gardens another outlet for fruit from its restored historic citrus groves. FARSB collected 2,755 pounds of oranges there this year, according to figures provided by the organization.
A donor-funded initiative has helped restore and preserve the groves, and as the trees returned to health and productivity, Kimberly Crest began looking for additional ways to use the fruit.
"Feeding America [Riverside | San Bernardino] gives us another meaningful avenue for the harvest to mitigate as much waste as possible," said Anita West, executive director of Kimberly Crest House & Gardens. "It allows us to make the most of what these historic trees produce while giving their legacy a very present-day purpose."
That connection also carries on the legacy of Helen Kimberly and Mary Kimberly Shirk, who both believed strongly in service to their community, West said.
"I think they would be very pleased to know that more than a century later the place they loved is still giving back," West said.
Young's grove has its own connection to Redlands' citrus history. She and her late husband bought the five-acre property about 16 years ago, in part because he believed it was near, or possibly the same property, where his grandparents picked oranges after arriving from Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl.
Today, Young sees donating excess fruit as one way to keep Redlands' remaining groves productive while putting what they grow to use.
"I hope those few groves that are left continue the tradition of farming because that's Redlands," Young said. "That's what Redlands is about."
FARSB welcomes donations of fresh fruits and vegetables through its gleaning program, whether they come from a large grove or a single productive tree.
Residents with more produce than they can use can put that excess food to work helping families across the region.
Property owners aren't the only ones who can participate. FARSB also needs volunteers to help harvest produce, and Molina said having volunteers who live near gleaning sites makes it easier to staff local harvests.
Have excess produce? Property owners can contact Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino to request a glean.
Want to volunteer? Residents can also sign up to help harvest produce at gleaning events throughout the Inland Empire.
This article was produced in partnership with Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino.
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