Quesada Kids Community Fruit Stand

Quesada-Kids-Fruit-Stand, Quesada Kids Community Fruit Stand, Archives 1976-2008
Quesada Kids Fruit Stand

Got a backyard tree heavy laden with ripening fruit? Let youngsters pick and sell it to share the health and the wealth!

by Jeffrey Betcher

The Quesada Kids Community Fruit Stand was the talk of Third Street over the weekend. Quesada Gardens Initiative co-founder Shane King organized half a dozen youngsters to harvest his backyard plum tree and sell the fruit at the tip of the Quesada Garden by the Bank of America. The fruit sold out in about an hour, the kids made more money than they expected, passers-by loved the idea and everyone wants more of the same.

Quesada-Kids-Fruit-Stand-Shanika-Sabrina, Quesada Kids Community Fruit Stand, Archives 1976-2008
Shanika, Sabrina, Marquez, Arrin and Nathan set up their Quesada Kids Community Fruit Stand at the corner of Third Street and Quesada – and sold out in an hour.

The quantity of fruit that our community generates with its backyard trees is astounding. And yet most of the fruit doesn’t get enjoyed except perhaps by critters you might wish didn’t get so fat this time of year. Quesada Gardens Initiative members have been talking about harvesting these trees for years, but it took Shane and his plum tree, heavy with delicious fruit, to finally make it happen.

Shane and the kids – Shanika, Sabrina, Marquez, Arrin and Nathan – could use your help. If you have a fruit tree ready to harvest, please email info@quesadagardens.org or call (415) 822.8082. Or, better yet, find a couple of young people with time on their hands and help them turn time into cash and good health.

Quesada-Kids-Fruit-Stand-harvest, Quesada Kids Community Fruit Stand, Archives 1976-2008
Young entrepreneurs Shanika and Sabrina and their friends picked a neighbor’s plums and sold them – a successful health- and wealth-building venture!

Quesada Kids will do their best to harvest trees they hear about, assuming the fruit is ripe and high quality. Some older trees and trees that haven’t been adequately watered this season may not meet the standard.

If you have time to help the kids out with harvesting, setting up an attractive sidewalk stand or understanding business basics, don’t hold back. The Quesada Kids Community Fruit Stand just might be your perfect volunteer opportunity!

Jeffrey Betcher can be reached at Jeffrey@quesadagardens.org.

This story is published as part of SFBV’s Bay View Archive project, made possible by the San Francisco Foundation. For more information, click here.