Here's one Glendora teen's simple solution to help feed tens of thousands of people

GLENDORA, Calif. (KABC) -- Mihir Anand is 18 years old and on his way to Stanford University to study computer science. He is an accomplished student who, for the last four years, has spent the majority of his weekends picking fruit.

Having grown up visiting fruit farms with his mom, picking fruit is a pastime and a hobby he enjoys. But as he got older, he began to wonder about the fruit left unpicked on trees right in their neighborhood.
[Ads /]
"He said 'it makes no sense, it's just rotting and nobody is doing anything about it,' so I said 'why don't you do something about it?'" Vineet Kaur, Mahir's mother explained.

And he did. In August 2017, Mihir launched "Fruitfully Yours," a non-profit with a simple volunteer-driven model: pick and gather fruit from the homes of willing donors and get them into the hands of the food insecure.

In just four years, the non-profit has impacted about 35,000 individuals and donated over 47,000 pounds of fruit.

RELATED | Microfarms may be the food-growing solution to feeding SoCal's food deserts


"To be able to give them fresh fruit takes it to a whole other level. It's beyond canned food, it's beyond boxed food. It's fresh. It's something expensive to them," remarked Craig Cerro from Shepherds Pantry in Glendora.



Mihir was barely a teen when he reached out to Cerro to persuade him to distribute his harvests.
[Ads /]
"After about a month we gave them a key and said here, come in and get the crates, this is where you put it and how you work with us. It's amazing that he just doesn't give up," said Cerro.

Since then, Mihir has recruited dozens of volunteers - adults and students -to help gather all the fruit including support from city leaders.

The volunteers pick all kinds of fruits - grapefruit, figs, pomegranates - all from the roughly 100 homeowners and public parks that allow "Fruitfully Yours," to have access to their trees.



"We schedule picks for the weekends because most of us are working professionals and also students that are full time at school," said Vineet Kaur, Mahir's mother.



And when Mihir graduates, he's passing the baton to fellow Glendora high school students who are just as passionate about the cause with Mihir's mom leading the way.