Portland Fruit Tree Project

Specialties

We are a non-​profit organization whose mission is to increase access to healthful foods and strengthen communities by empowering neighbors to share in the harvest & care of urban food resources

History

Established in 2008.

Portland Fruit Tree Project’s mission is to increase equitable access to healthful food and strengthen communities by empowering neighbors to share in the harvest and care of city-​grown produce.

The «Neighborhoood Fruit Tree Project» was created in 2006 in response to the massive amounts of fruit dropping from trees and going to waste in the Humboldt and King neighborhoods of North/​Northeast Portland. Acutely aware of the economic challenges many in our community face in accessing healthful food, the founders began organizing neighbors to harvest this resource and make it available to people in need.

Soon people from all over the city began contacting us, wanting to become involved in feeding neighbors within their own communities. As the scope of our work expanded and news of our program spread, we grew from a neighborhood project, to «Portland Fruit Tree Project» in 2007.

Today, Portland Fruit Tree Project (PFTP) is an award-​winning nonprofit organization that provides a community

Meet the Manager

Bob H.

Manager

Bob Hatton is the Program Coordinator with Portland Fruit Tree Project (PFTP.) He has been the lead coordinator for all of PFTP’s Community Harvest & Fruit Tree Stewardship programs since Fall 2009. He thoroughly enjoys the opportunities his position provides to harvest fruit that would otherwise go to waste, work with lots of passionate volunteers, to continually learn about fruit tree care from all of our workshop instructors and Tree Care Team Leaders, and to share his knowledge with others. Bob is also currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Home Orchard Society. Prior to this, Bob worked at the Learning Gardens Laboratory and earned his Master’s degree through the LECL (Leadership in Ecology, Culture, and Learning) program at Portland State University. While in the LECL program, Bob completed the OSU Organic Gardening Certificate Program and the Permaculture Design Certificate with Toby Hemenway.