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Latest News

New Board Members

We’d like to extend a warm welcome to new board members, Carlos Cortez and Josef Strasser, both of whom bring years of management experience along with a passion to serve the community.

Carlos Cortez is currently a business strategist with a background in management and consulting in various industries, including the food sector. He is also a member of the team behind the Nourish Movement, a multi-sector group of business leaders and entrepreneurs looking to address human and planetary health through Food is Medicine solutions.

Josef (Joe) Strasser and his wife returned to California in 2022 following 20 years in North Carolina and a career in regulatory toxicology within the pharmaceutical industry. He served as a boy scout leader and council member as well as years on the Board of Education for the Charlotte Diocese. Joe now volunteers on the senior volunteer patrol for the Fallbrook Sheriff and as a docent for the San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside.

Senior Gleaners is governed by a volunteer board that meets quarterly to review strategy, operations and finances. Read more about Carlos and Joe’s backgrounds along with our other board members.

Senior Gleaners Volunteer Appreciation Picnic

Senior Gleaners held a Volunteer Appreciation picnic April 15 at Mission Bay Park. Volunteers were thanked for their hard work in collecting fruit and groceries to feed the hungry. So far this year, gleaners have picked 53,000 pounds of fruit and 6,600 pounds of groceries and delivered the results to 23 distribution sites. This effort saved all the product from otherwise being wasted.

Aprille Geier from San Diego County Department of Agriculture spoke about the importance of having no stems or leaves in the picked product to limit the spread of the Asian Citrus Psyllids. In Florida, 75% of the citrus crop has been lost due to the disease. In California, Asian Citrus Psyllids have been found in Los Angeles, Oceanside and Rancho Bernardo. Senior Gleaners remain vigilant in looking for signs of infestation.

Thank you gifts of succulents were distributed to attendees and raffle prizes were distributed. The Volunteer of the Year designation was presented to Jayanti Menches, Calin Cionca and Monte Turner for their yearlong dedication to improving this website.

New Website

Senior Gleaners launched this new and improved website. In addition to sharing the link to our new website with friends, family, and your social media accounts to showcase the work that we all do as a team, please let us know if you can find everything you need. Do all the links work for you? We’d like people to test drive it using laptops, desktops, phones, and tablets. Send comments, suggestions, or questions to the site’s editor, Monte Turner, at montesdgleaner@gmail.com. Many thanks to the trio making this happen: long-time board member Monte Turner, board member Jayanti Menches, and volunteer web developer Calin Cionca.

Latest News

• Urgent call for peak harvest season volunteers: If you are 55 and over please sign up to join crews now as we prepare for the upcoming citrus harvest season. We also need volunteers to haul several boxes of fruit in their personal vehicles. Register today!

• Our heartfelt thanks go out to:
  • Johnson & Johnson Western Region Retirees Club for a generous $3000 grant to purchase ladders and gas for our van. It was an unrestricted grant allowing us to also purchase some long leather gloves for your protection while picking. 
  • St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church for a grant following its 90th annual White Elephant Sale. Senior Gleaners received funds for equipment enabling us to purchase “long-handled” clippers, poles, gloves, and picker replacement heads.