Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Annie Nguyen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Annie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

City Fruit started when our founder Gail Savina saw the enormous amount of fruit growing in neighbor’s yards in Seattle while many others were suffering food insecurity. Food banks rarely have the resources to invest in higher priced, perishable foods, and donated foods are often shelf-stable. Gail led volunteers to knock door-to-door and ask those with fruit trees if they could harvest any excess fruit to share with food banks.

From this simple action, City Fruit was formed as a nonprofit organization in 2008. We grew from harvesting residential fruit trees, like plums, apples, pears, and figs, to harvesting public orchards in Seattle, some that date back to the late 1800s. Our work has remained steady over the last 15 years: we continue to engage local community members and volunteers in harvesting fruit that would otherwise go to waste and sharing this fruit free of charge with those who may lack access to fresh fruit.

Today, we recognize not only that fruit can be donated fresh to food banks, but with respect to food dignity, any bruised, blemished, undersized or over or under-ripe fruit can be processed into jams, breads, pies, ciders, and more so that all urban fruit can be utilized and our food system becomes more localized and sustainable. We aim to be a zero-waste organization that makes fruit accessible to all – a goal and mission that is meaningful to all of us who care about food insecurity and climate justice and the actions we can take on a local level to make a difference.

Annie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in Alabama, as the daughter of two resourceful and hard-working refugees from the Vietnam War. My mom, who was previously a school teacher, found work in America as a waitress and nanny, while my father studied at night to earn his computer science and electrical engineering degrees. We didn’t have much growing up, but my parents worked together to bring Vietnamese foods into our community, growing rau muong, bitter melon, green onions and more in our backyard. My mom eventually owned a restaurant that helped put my sister, aunts, and uncles through college while my dad transferred his experience in the South Vietnamese navy to find work as a Navy engineer.

I was born in America and was too young to contribute much help at the restaurant for most of its years of operation, but I did pull my weight by caring for the garden. While I was often embarrassed when friends would come over and ask questions about the foods we grew that they didn’t recognize (you have to grow rau muong in water and my parents had actually created a cement basin to grow it and they also built arbors to grow the bitter melon), I look back on this experience and realize how invaluable it was that my parents grew this food. They not only were able to provide for my family through working the land that was available to them but also they were able to impart my Vietnamese heritage and identity to me through food.

Working with City Fruit, I see how important it is for people to have access to food and land and to pass on their knowledge of land stewardship and family recipes. My family survived a war and was lucky to survive poverty through these actions, and I hope that through my work now, I can continue to honor their sacrifices and struggles by helping others to find ways to connect to food and land.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

I took over as the new ED of City Fruit at the start of the pandemic. When I was originally handed the organization’s budget, I was more than a little surprised to see that we were hanging on by a PPP loan! I was informed that as a volunteer-led organization, we had not been able to find a lot of sustainable sources of revenue and that there were times we had to borrow money to make payroll.

Harvest season had just started, and with the pandemic in full swing and food insecurity on the rise, we had to figure out how to harvest fruit and distribute it safely as quickly as possible. That summer, we couldn’t have volunteer parties harvesting because the city was not allowing groups to gather and so much of the fruit that we used to harvest with teams of 20 or more people was now being only harvested by a staff member and an intern.

It was a rough summer, and by the end of 2020, the budget looked even more dire – the city, which had previously provided 35% of our annual budget, withdrew funding because they, too, were facing budget shortfalls. I had to make the decision then to close our physical office and have remaining staff work remotely until we could figure out next steps.

Thankfully, through communicating with our community and tapping individuals and volunteers who were closest to our work, we were able to fundraise enough to have a harvest in 2021, and that year ended up being a bumper crop. We had so much fruit that year, we were able to serve more community members and show how much we were needed. We also found a way to make our operations more sustainable by developing some of our services into paid services for those who needed help caring for their fruit trees.

Today, our organization is thriving and growing! We went from seasonal, part-time staff to year-round staff, are harvesting more kinds of fruit from more urban spaces, and are serving more community members who want to learn about fruit, grow fruit, and have more access to fruit!

Any advice for managing a team?

I am sometimes amazed by the people who work with me. I try hard to be transparent and support individual growth, and feel like I honor and respect different backgrounds, but I’m sure I’ve also failed many times and could be better.

My team has taken risks and chances with me, and sometimes, I’m not sure why. We’re a small organization that cannot offer the most in pay or benefits, and there were times when I wasn’t sure how long we could stay afloat. I think because of their trust in me, I’ve worked harder to make sure the organization does succeed and does meet funding goals. I also do try my best to offer flexibility, understanding, and mentorship. I know I’ve learned a lot from my team, too, and there are many times they’ve changed my mind on what the next best step is.

Maybe that’s what keeps our morale high even when we are swamped with work or situations look bleak. We respect and learn from each other, and we do what we can to learn from mistakes when they happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cityfruit.org
• Instagram: cityfruitseattle
• Facebook: cityfruit
• Linkedin: cityfruit
• Twitter: cityfruit
• Youtube: cityfruit