When Life Gives You 10,000 Oranges, Start A Movement

A lot of good food never makes it to a plate. In Fresno, that often looks like backyard trees dropping grapefruit and lemons by the bucket and packing houses tossing out “imperfect” mandarins that taste just fine. We sit down with Simon and Aleeza, the founders of All For Kindness, to unpack how a simple idea—rescue surplus fruit and deliver it fast—grew into a volunteer-powered network moving roughly 12,000 pounds of fresh produce each week.

We trace their origin story from a single neighborhood post to three weekly harvests with 30 to 50 volunteers, and we get into the nuts and bolts: coordinating routes, sorting, storage, and next-day deliveries to food banks, shelters, and homebound neighbors. If you care about public health, this is prevention in action. Fresh citrus brings vitamin C, fiber, and joy to families stuck in food deserts, where shelf-stable boxes can’t meet every need. You’ll hear how they partner with growers and packers to reclaim cosmetically imperfect fruit, why specific volunteer asks beat vague calls for help, and what it takes to keep the operation humane and sustainable.

The conversation also gets personal. We talk about guarding energy with a weekly digital sabbath, handling 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. days, and the small moments that fuel big work—the kid whose face lights up at a fruit bag, the neighbor who hasn’t had an orange in a year. We share the real constraints too: summer heat, the race against spoilage, a pressing need for a trailer, and a modest warehouse to scale beyond citrus into other produce. Along the way, we make the case that kindness isn’t performative; it’s a supply chain that rewires how a community eats.

If you’ve got a tree, a truck, a spare hour, or a lead at a packing house, you’re already part of the solution. Tap to listen, then join a Sunday pick, run a delivery route, or help fund the trailer that multiplies every volunteer’s impact. Subscribe, leave a review to boost the message, and share this episode with someone who has more fruit than they can carry. Let’s turn waste into wellness, one crate at a time.

Check out Offer Kindness and their amazing work:

Offer Kindness Website

IG: Offerkindnesshq

Businesses: If you are able to support or have any donations to, please contact Simon or Aleeza. 

Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to this podcast and share with a friend. If you would like to know more about my services, please message at fueledbyleo@gmail.com

My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0SqBP44jMNYSzlcJjOKJdg

Transcript

From Waste To Community Impact

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hey hey, welcome back to another episode of Simple Nutrition Insights podcast. I am your host, Leonila Campos, registered dietitian, founder of Fueled by Leo, and someone who deeply believes that wellness starts with community. Today's episode is special. We're spotlighting a local Fresno organization that is doing powerful, heart-centered work, not just in words, but in action. We're talking about kindness, but not the fluffy kind. The kind that shows up, the kind that feeds people, the kind that meets real needs. I'm honored to be joined by the founders of All For Kindness here in Fresno, Simon and Alyssa. So let's dive in. First of all, thank you so much for being here. I'll love to start at the beginning. What inspired you to create All For Kindness?

Founders’ Origin Story

SPEAKER_02 1:02

We moved to Fresno in October, and right when I got here, I realized so many people have fruit trees. And we come from the East Coast, and it's not some to just have oranges, surplus of oranges in their backyard, and we would go for walks, and I would see my neighbors have lemon trees, grapefruit trees, orange trees, and then I would see them rotting on the floor. What's going on? So many people would be so happy to receive an orange, a lemon, not have to go to the supermarket to pay a dollar for this produce. I said to my husband one day, we have to do something. It makes no sense. I can't find an organization that gleans, that goes to orchards, that picks the fruit that the farmers don't want or in people's houses. Simon always had a dream of starting an organization. He even had the name of for Kaimis since he was younger. He wanted to take people who had extra time or surplus resources and give them people who would need them. Just a connection of people in the community. And we realize there's a lot of citrus right now. And we can hopefully bring them to people who would need them. And even if you're able to afford just receiving something for free that would have gone to waste is a beautiful act. And that just makes people smile. That's what we want to see. A lot of smiles.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

That's how we start.

First Gleans And Demand Surges

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Yeah, I love that. And just being able to because you know, when I think about being local, right, we see the trees all the time. Because we've been here for so long. We don't realize, oh, well, that's going to waste. But coming in from the outside from a place where you're like, we don't see that, you know, in the East Coast. But we're seeing it, but we're also there is a need, right? And we're not just saying, oh, yeah, it's okay. But you're uh you're you're doing something, not for you just for yourself, right? For the but for the entire community, which is amazing. What was Fresno like at that time and the gap that you were trying to fill? You notice so you notice that gap, right? Okay, I'm I'm not finding organizations that do this work, right? And a lot of the times that's how either the nonprofits or businesses get started, right? There's a need, but there's not someone that's doing that job. So what led you guys to decide, okay, we need to do something, and this is what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

So basically, once we started picking fruits from our tree and from our neighbor's tree, Aliza posted online on next door on Facebook, like, you know, you know, does anyone have need for extra fruit free of cost? And then we got a very overwhelming response from a lot of people in the downtown area and all kinds of places that were like, we, you know, I I can't leave my house, I have an autoimmune disease, I have all kinds of different reasons that people can't leave their houses or or or that you know, a single mother or stuff like that. And we just started putting together these fruit bags and just delivering them in our personal cars. The over like there are food banks that already exist, and there are a lot of food pantries that run in the Fresno County area, but either people don't have access to them because they can't they're immobile, or in some of these food pantries, it's all shelf stable, you know, canned beans and I don't know, uh ramen, yeah, Oreos, stuff like that. So adding the fresh citrus really um pretty much immediately got a very good reaction. And so we just kept growing and expanding.

Why Fresh Food Access Matters

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah, that's amazing. And you're right, uh, which is great to have those food pantries. But um, a lot of the times as you mentioned, right, people are not able to go, either because they're not mobile, they're not able to leave their house, right? And so that is definitely a challenge. So for those listening who may not be familiar, can you share what offer kindness does on on a day-to-day basis?

Day-To-Day Operations

SPEAKER_01 4:47

So much. Uh we do a lot. A lot of our stuff is is coordination. Uh, we try to do about three picking days a week, with Sunday being our main uh you know harvest day, where we'll go to a big property and pick orchard, yeah. Every every week it's different. But uh we'll go to a big property, we'll get between 30 to 50 volunteers that show up, and we pick as much. I think our biggest pick was yesterday. We got 8,000 pounds, the eight, nine thousand pounds, yeah. And then um we spend the rest, like so it's one. Usually it's a day we pick one day we distribute. Yeah, it delivery it changes, but we have the fruit, we take it home, we organize it, and then we distribute it to food banks. And usually over the weekends, we have uh delivery routes to a list of people that we've put together. So deliver straight to them.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Yeah, that's amazing. Uh and you're right, there's a lot of coronation, right, and trying to figure this out, logistics and things like that. I have to ask, totally okay if you're like, no, we cannot go there. But what did you guys used to do before coming to Fresno?

Balancing Jobs And Nonprofit Life

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Well, I still work a full job now. Um so but before we were living out in New York, yeah. I'm a pilot, so I still am. And uh Liva is a swimming instructor, yoga instructor, Pilates instructor. All one stuff, substitutive teacher. So he likes to teach.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

That's amazing. Yeah, awesome. So still on top of you, you know, your guys' job, you also have these, which is now uh nonprofit, right? You guys were able to write your story as a nonprofit, which is a a huge, you know, huge win in such a short period of time. That's amazing. Yeah. And so full-time job, and then this this is like an entire other full-time job, right? So I'm sure or two, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Seven in the morning until ten at night, answering emails, organizing. And Simon's an on-call pilot, so when he's not flying, he's dedicating all of his hours. Even last night he took a flight, he got home at 12, and this morning 7 a.m. We're working with California Food Bank, and we delivered to Food Bank today, and hopefully we'll get to a shelter.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

We're actually at a food bank right now.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

They're unloading back.

Community Needs And Food Deserts

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Okay. Well, well, we're talking now. Oh my goodness, yeah. No, no wasting time here. Yeah. So as you guys are growing, right? What are the biggest needs you see in our community?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Right, right. Well, from our perspective, the the biggest needs would be just fresh food, which is crazy, especially kind of like you said, Central Valley. Um, but yeah, like people downtown, there's food deserts, there's food insecurity county in some some of the areas.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

People who are budgeting who have a big family that comes to the bottom of the list if they'd rather get big feeds to feed the family so just wow, we have we can't afford these oranges, and it's helping our children that were sick this past week and really boost the immune system. Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

So that's just I'm sure you want to look at a broader question. Oh, we can do that to different podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Right. Yeah. And you know, as a dietitian, and they think about you know, the needs for health, right? And nourishment and nutrition, which is what I talk about to my clients. But I've had clients that say, you know what, we don't have money, right? Like we just get maybe uh government assistance, and a lot of the times they have, as you mentioned, right, they have to budget, okay, what's gonna last longer? What can we afford to feed, you know, the entire family? And it is it is definitely concerning and sad, right? We're not getting the the fresh foods that they need, right, for their their immune system, for fiber, for bowel movements, whatever the case may be. And so being able to provide that for them, right? You guys are providing that, which is amazing and is true kindness, as the name says. So you guys are doing amazing work in showing the community that this is doable. If we all volunteer, if we all give some time back, right? We can absolutely feed our community these fresh foods and it's not going to waste.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah, we've we've so far been 100% volunteer-based. All the people who come to pick, people help us deliver, all volunteers. And everyone's been just amazing. The community has really come behind the idea. We're still very small, but we're gonna grow. We've got we've gotten a lot of positive feedback.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

We're averaging around like 12,000 pounds a week of food that would have gone to the floor and brought it. So any amount that we're able to save is a blessing. We hope to get bigger. We're hope to work with just producers like uh people who are producing onions or garlic, and they say, Oh, we have too much extra, or there's a blemish. We started working with a food distributor packing house, and every day they have to get aside, let's say there was a like 500 pounds of mandarins that have a little blemish, she can't sell them. So what is she? They either bury it, throw it out. So we've been really lucky to work with her saving.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Shout shout out to Twin Tree Farms.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Oh, amazing. Yeah, thank you. And it's awesome to again, right? When you see someone doing something so positive and that is making a difference, right? I think almost it's part of our human nature, right? To want to help, right? And sometimes we don't know where to start. There could be million things that we want to do, but then someone comes in, right? Like you guys, and you're like, okay, this is what we're gonna do, come in and help. But uh, and now there's this sharing with the community.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah. And so we found a lot, and that's kind of why it takes a lot of coordination. But right, if you have something, you know, like this is a task that needs to get done, people are a lot more likely to say, I can do that, rather than saying, Hey, can someone help? Not the general cry for help doesn't really get you anywhere.

Specific Tasks Beat Vague Help

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Right, yeah, being so specific, which is such a great question. So running a nonprofit, right, or community organization isn't easy. What has been the most challenging part of this journey?

Biggest Challenges And Logistics

SPEAKER_01 11:03

They we have different challenging aspects because we both have our strong shoot, you know, things that we're good at, things that are harder for us. But we kind of balance each other out. We're both good at very different things. So I would say for in general, just the amount of work that's difficult but manageable. Um yeah, I don't know. I I have sometimes trouble um, you know, like just pushing through and like setting these big goals. I like to have like everything like set up so I know how to get from point A to point B. But we've been going really, really fast, so like we have to like work as we go. Whereas Aliza, she can think really, really big and it all works out. So that works. And I think for you our things.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

There's like coordinating the type the feedback is coming, how we're gonna lift it up and volunteers and rain and just a lot of small details, and we want to make sure that everyone's all the paper. But lots of paperwork, opening mail. Well, it works out beautifully, and there's people who are so there's uh any moment they take any amount of food, so that's really good because sit on food for too long because we want it to spoil. Right now it's the summer, it's gonna be like picket, straight to the move, like another challenge. We need to find a warehouse.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yes. Uh we need to have a fun reading like that for now. We're happy with what we have.

Preventing Burnout With Sabbath

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yeah, amazing. Awesome. How do you guys avoid burnout?

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Good question. Saturday. So we every week from Friday afternoon to Saturday night, our phones are off. And we have two home cook emails. A lot more than me spend time with each other or relax. It's like a recharge day.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Yeah. That's not the organization who answer emails for 25 hours. We're just with each other, present not dealing with the organization or just the outside world. Just don't know. No one could find.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

I love that. I think that's that's so needed, right? And something that a lot of business owners or organization leaders, right, sometimes don't pay attention to that, especially at the beginning stages, right? Where there there's a lot of things to do. And as a business owner myself, sometimes I struggle with that, but I think it's so needed because you're like on the go. You know, you have a full-time job, you have an organization, and if there's no time, right, to like just take it all in or just like breathe, you're yeah, we're gonna max out, and then we won't be able to do anything at all.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

When can I go to Costco?

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Like to do this for the past month, one day.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

It's um it's a blessing, also. It's a bless, yeah. Being busy is definitely very positive. I have friends that you know, right now they're not employed and they're like they sit around all day and then it's very difficult uh to not have something to do. So we're very happy and blessed that we have a lot of things to do.

The Feedback That Fuels Them

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah. Awesome. What keeps you going on the hard days?

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Is it like the messages from so we give to food banks and it's really beautiful and we know that they're feeding people, but we don't get feedback like from the individuals because they don't really know that we're giving the fruit. So from the individuals who we give the fruit to, we get messages like from someone who can't leave her house because she's um on hospice from cancer treatment, um, chemotherapy from people with GI tract this saved our day. Our kids are so happy. And a lot of Facebook posts, we get so much positive feedback. I dreamed of this my whole entire life. I've been living in Fresno. We got an email from someone. I've been living in Fresno for 57 years. I dreamed about this. You guys are awesome. Like people have been thinking about this idea, you probably see the fruit rotting and say, What's going on? How is this possible? So a lot of the community, the messages really keep us going. It's big energy boosts a lot.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, I can imagine. It's just amazing that you're making it happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

For me, like every once in a while when I get to like a family with younger children and I give them like the fruit basket and like the kids' faces like light up and they get really excited. That could usually keep me going for like a few weeks.

How To Support: Volunteer Or Donate

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Yeah. Yeah. We need this boosting memorial moments. Or what do people rather misunderstand about community work?

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Uh in general, we've got like I'd say 95% of everyone understands what we're doing. Uh, you know, they're on board. So far, we've we've hit pretty much all positive feedback. We have a few people that they just you know hide behind the keyboard and they're like, oh wow, you know, people should pick their own food or I don't know, something like that. In general, we we haven't had any misunderstanding. Like people understand the the idea and the everyone's behind it so far.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Yeah, awesome. And the ones that don't, well, yeah, no problem. Yeah, right. Exactly. So for listeners who are feeling inspired right now, how can they support offerkindness and support you guys in your mission?

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Great question. So there's two ways. The first way is our preferred method. If you want to be hands-on and join us at our next uh either harvest day or if you want to run deliveries, you could contact us on our email, which is offerkindnesshq at gmail.com, or go to offerkindness.net and all our contact information is in there. And the second way would be a donation, since we just literally just we became uh eligible for some donations. I don't know if we could do like a link or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

But we're trying to get a trailer.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

So we purchased a truck a couple of weeks ago, and now we want to get a trailer to go along with that truck because we're already reaching that capacity every day. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Today we had to go back and forth to the homeowner's house. I'm like, it's true, and we had to borrow a trailer. We're trying to also get a warehouse space because we want to get not just citrus, we're trying to, if anyone has extra stuff, we're making connections with producing houses, packing houses, and if they have extra, they can't sell it.

Education, Kids, And Nature

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Some packing houses will have like a hundred thousand pounds extra that need that it needs to be cleaned right now or it's going in the trash.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

So I guess the answer to your question is donations of either money, farm equipment or harvesting equipment or logistics equipment. Uh if if people want. Obviously, we'd really, really appreciate.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Yeah, absolutely. I'll make sure to share all the in the you know, the website and the link, uh, social media, anything else that you want me to, you can email it to me and I can put it in the show notes as well. Um and yeah, I love that there you guys are building partnerships with like packing houses, and I'm sure there's illness opportunities too for you know other honest organizations and companies.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Um Yeah, we've been it's it's pretty amazing like the amount of people that we meet and also the kind of people that we meet. Like so many amazing individuals that are very, very looking to help and are very involved and hands-on. Um, we're working with all these different food pantries and food banks, and everyone there is all about giving. Then on the other side, when we're working with the farmers or with packing houses, they care about their food so much. They work so hard to grow it. So they're really happy to give it to us to make sure it goes somewhere to a good place. So far, everyone's just been amazing.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah, I'm so glad to hear that. That you know you're offering kindness and you're receiving kindness, which is so nice.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

I think when you give, you get so much more back. The the ripple of your action actions, it's goes such a long, you don't realize you affected this person, and people sometimes we give a basket and then she shares with all of her neighbors and gardeners. It's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

You really don't are.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

And I'm also very I study nutrition, so I love being able to give people vitamins. So it's I'm not just like giving them candy that goes expire, just no, it's just fresh. We picked it today, we're giving it, so that's a beautiful thing. It's not process, not processed, not sprayed. Did it touch it like a processing draw? Processing yeah, whatever. So it's super fresh.

Growing The Network And Future Plans

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Yeah, absolutely. And it's you know, something that maybe someone hasn't had a fresh food, right, in such a long time. And as you mentioned, this is like the first thing. And that in my mind is like, this is amazing, right? You're getting something so fresh and and it's free.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

I was delivering to someone's house and I couldn't find the apartment complex. And I asked someone, go, Do you know where 208 is? And she goes, Oh, yeah, up there. And I go, Do you want an orange? She goes, I haven't had one in a year. I said, Oh my living friends, no, you haven't had an because it just wasn't affordable. And she was so happy. I gave her a few and she goes, Wow, this is amazing. Yeah, it's a blessing. Like sometimes we take for granted, just going to the supermarket and buy fruit, buy vegetables. Also, you realize how much goes into it the harvesting, the soil, the processing, picking, and there's so much logistics. And you just go to Trader Joe's and everything's packaged so beautifully for you. Pre-washed lettuce and it makes you so opens up your eyes to wow, there's a lot of things that go behind this and not taking things for granted.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Right. Yeah, appreciating those moment moments. And another thing too that it's you know brings to mind is that when people volunteer with you guys, right, if they take the kids, such a great opportunity to show them this is how the oranges grow, right, or how the produce grows, and and then we take it to the store, and that's where we get it, right? But this is how that's where it starts, and it's such a great opportunity for them to learn, right, how food grows.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yeah. And we've had mostly on Sundays, but we've had so many families uh just show up and it's you know, beautiful sunny day. The kids are running around outside, kneaded arms, just having a good time. And and I feel like that's also missing today. That's a whole another separate topic if you want to dive into it. But uh kids don't have outlets to just go outside and be kids in nature. Everyone's all you know, watching the TV and the floor.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Absolutely. And I have two boys, and so I see that, and so at least they don't fight me when I tell them let's go outside, right? Or let's go for a walk. Um, but yeah, it's you know, it's hard if they're the that's all they're they're doing, right? But if that's something that's the only way. Uh, but being able to go into the the orchards, right, or the fields and like experience that it's the kids love it.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

They climb up into the trees, they get to like go digging in oranges. They love it. It's just fun. Yeah, it's like right.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

It's a family event, right? So you bring your family. And they get to take home oranges also. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

So win win. And people come to volunteer, they can take home, you know, fresh, freshly picked oranges that they picked.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

That's right. Yeah. Amazing. Awesome. I know you guys are busy. So anything else that you would like to share? Anything else that you want the community to know, whoever is listening, anything that you would like to know.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

We don't know who your listener face is, but uh someone out there has uh has properties that has that have too much citrus on them, or if someone out there has farming equipment, slash trucks, slash Um harvesting equipment slash warehouse space. We would love to get in touch. Figure something out.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yeah. Amazing. And come support. If you're not in the Fresno area, you can still support in different ways. So I'll make sure to add all those links.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Instagram and Facebook to see what's going on. Our Instagram is pretty fun. You can probably attest to that. That's where you found us, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Yep. I did. And I always love the post and seeing all the happy faces.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

We try and try and keep keep it good. Yeah, just following us and spreading our message, like help helping our message get out, even that's amazing. And who knows, you know, not now, but in the future we'd expand to other places in the valley or state. Yeah, other states. Yeah, maybe Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Hey, that's amazing. You know, as you mentioned, I'm sure there's not a lot of organizations, or if any, right, that do this work. And so if it's groundwork, right, um, it's amazing. And I wish you all the success, and I'm sure I'll see you guys soon. Or some volunteer, and I have to take my entire family because we need on Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

We're picking like 130 trees, and all the trees are like 15 feet tall.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

No, a lot of them are low.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Some of them, I know. But there's a lot of oranges, so we're gonna get probably 10,000, 15,000 pounds.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

That's cheaper, but at least. Yeah. So we can't reach. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

There'll be naval oranges, Valencias, uh, some mandarins. They got a lot of stuff there. But uh every week we find more places, so keep in touch.

Closing Reflection On Kindness

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Yeah, absolutely. Kindness isn't soft, it's powerful, it changes nervous systems, it changes communities, it changes futures. So if today's episode moved to you, share it. Tag for kindness, support local work, because real wellness starts long before someone walks into a doctor's office. Thank you for our guests for reminding us that health isn't just what's on our plate, it's how to show up for each other. Until next time, thank you so much for tuning in. Bye bye for now.

unknown 24:21

Bye.