Calling all active seniors in need of productivity and vegetable farmers and homeowners with backyards filled with fruit trees. San Diego’s Senior Gleaners are ready, super excited and able to glean surplus produce in an effort to feed the hungry. Celebrating 25 years as a nonprofit organization, this dedicated group of volunteers collects food that would otherwise be wasted. Members glean surplus produce from farms, fields, groves, and backyards. The group also collects damaged or outdated foods and products donated by grocers, food services, and even restaurants throughout San Diego County. Picking occurs almost every Tuesday morning, year-round. Grocery crews are scheduled four mornings a week to grocery stores the include Windmill Farms, Vons, Ralphs, Keils, even Outback Steakhouse. Crew sizes and detailed surplus varies. The coastal communities of La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach and Point Loma are abundant with produce. “With all of the negativity in today's world, gleaning, a tradition established by landowners who set aside portions of their harvested bounty to feed the poor, is positive and productive,” said Monte Turner, Senior Gleaner board president. “We help to feed the hungry, reduce waste and keep retirees active.” According to Turner, the Senior Gleaners collected more than 280,000 pounds of produce and distributed nearly 252 tons of food in 2018. And yet, San Diego continues to waste 500,000 tons of food annually while 500, 000 people live in poverty or are considered food insecure. “While not starving, many San Diegans don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” he said. “We don’t have a hunger problem, we have a food distribution problem. Rather than compost edible food or fill landfills with what becomes harmful methane gas, it makes more sense to support groups like ours who get food to the people who need it.” Turner spoke of the emotional satisfaction that he gets from gleaning. “I love being outside with friends picking fruit appreciated by people who frequent food pantries,” he said. “People often receive canned goods and unsold grocery food items but rarely fresh fruit. And San Diego is fruit country (oranges, tangerines, lemons, grapefruits, avocados apples, and pears are among the County’s produce surplus). “We often pass trees loaded with fruit and within a few weeks, the fruit is unsightly, rotting on the ground, attracting insects and feeding rats,” he continued. “To date, we’ve collected less than 10 percent of what’s available, leaving huge untapped resources.” Turner noted that it’s now standard practice for nationwide grocery chain stores to connect with groups like the Senior Gleaners to ensure that edible food is feeding the hungry, not landfills. “Food organizations like ours are being tapped into after a recently enacted state law that requires cities and counties to reduce the amount of organic, soon to be toxic material, to be dumped into landfills,” he said. Senior Gleaners supply small distribution groups – those not served by large food banks – which includes churches, senior centers, low-income housing units and food pantries. Volunteers are needed for gleaning and transporting at least 300 pounds of produce to Heaven's Windows, a satellite facility of the San Diego Food Bank and Feeding America. There is no minimum time requirement, however all volunteers must be 55 or older. Donors receive detailed receipts to claim tax deductions. The federal Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects donors from liability for “damages incurred as the result of illness,” as long as the donor has not “acted with negligence or intentional misconduct.” The Senior Gleaners of San Diego County is a certified non-profit organization affiliated with the San Diego County Office of Aging and Independent Services/ Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, a nationwide program that encourages seniors to serve their community. For more information, visit seniorgleanerssdco.org.

For three years, Julia Freifeld was a crisis counselor for survivors of sexual violence. She worked with her clients while also pursuing her own education at California Polytechnic State University. Feeling, as she described, “emotionally burnt out,” Freifeld looked for another way she could invest in the victims she cared for while still maintaining “my own inner peace.” That’s when she started a sea-glass-based jewelry company called Jewels for Change. “I felt like sea glass symbolized the journey of going through rough ocean waters and then coming out this beautiful and resilient survivor,” said Freifeld. The young entrepreneur would sell her jewelry to raise money for local nonprofits and charities. After discovering Healing Gemstones—a practice that’s been highly utilized along California’s coast—Freifeld transitioned Jewels for Change to Kindness Gems her senior year. She took on the company full time after graduating in 2017. “Gemstones have such a capacity to heal people and make people feel like the best versions of themselves,” said Freifeld, who now lives in Ocean Beach and heads Kindness Gems from her office in Pacific Beach. “I’ve always felt jewelry is a super sentimental thing. You go on vacation and you get a necklace there that will always remind you of that trip. Jewelry has an emotional tie as well and I feel like I’ve met so many people who have a necklace that their great grandmother gave them or even how a wedding ring is this significant symbol of love.” Partnering with another local jewelry enthusiast Bri Downes, who Freifeld met at Ocean Beach’s weekly farmers market, Kindness Gems sells necklaces, rings and earrings decorated in Citrine, Rose Quartz, Aquamarine, Moonstone and many others. “There are times where I have people at a booth for 45 minutes telling me their stories, their struggles…and I’m able to get to know each of them very personally,” said Downes. “That’s what makes this business so incredibly special.” Operating online and through farmers markets in Ocean Beach, Sea Port and Gaslamp, Kindness Gems also donates 20 percent of all their proceeds to help AIDS survivors and sex trafficked victims. “We want to give back to the many different organizations that are doing so much good in the world,” said Freifeld. “We work on a quarterly basis where we choose a philanthropic project to work with. This quarter we’re working with organizations that give support to people with AIDS.” Next quarter, Freifeld and Downes will partner with nonprofits helping survivors of sexual violence, such as Generate Hope San Diego, RISE and the Community Resource Center in Encinitas. “What I absolutely love about this company is, once we’ve chosen an awareness project to support, then begins us learning all about the different organizations,” said Freifeld. “It’s a process of us understanding the issue, how it’s being tackled and supporting their journey through our jewelry.” Kindness Gems also gets their pieces out to the community through wholesales with Earth Elements, a store front located in Carlsbad, Encinitas and Los Angeles. Since the business is one founded on compassion, Freifeld and Downes have also started a 24-hour act-of-kindness discount. Customers who purchase jewelry in person at a Kindness Gems booth or wholesale will fill out a slip at checkout, committing to an act of kindness within 24 hours and get a 10 percent discount on their purchase. “We’re not going to follow people around and make sure they do what they say they’ll do,” said Freifeld. “It’s all about getting people excited about giving back and, in return, getting a healing piece of jewelry that signifies their kindness and compassion.” She added, “Whether or not you believe in the healing power of these gemstones, these rocks are working to change lives.” Customers can catch Freifeld and Downes selling their Kindness Gems jewelry at the Ocean Beach Farmers Market every Wednesday, at Seaport Village’s on Saturdays and in Gaslamp on Sundays. Those looking to buy online can go to kindnessgems.com and use the promo code: SPREADKINDNESS.

The ZLAC Rowing Club is celebrating the completion of the phase one renovation of its grounds and entryway with a garden reveal party 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 10 in its clubhouse at 1111 Pacific Beach Drive. The event is open to everyone for a $20 fee that includes lunch and drinks. Billed as the oldest women’s rowing club in the world, ZLAC is the initials of the four San Diego women – Zulette Lamb, Lena Polhamus, Agnes Polhamus and Caroline Polhamus – who founded the club in 1892. The women’s rowing club, which operated initially with wooden barges from a boathouse on Market Street on San Diego Bay, was moved to its current clubhouse built by architect Lilian Rice in 1932. Current ZLAC president Karen Volz Bachofer noted the club was formed during a time when “women were not allowed to row because they were girls. So they founded their own rowing club.” ZLAC has since grown to 460 members, with more than 100 active. “We’ve added a brand new boathouse next to the clubhouse,” said Volz Bachofer. “We’ve been working on revamping and updating our grounds and the entryway onto the patio, fixing cracked pavement and replacing dying plant materials.” The club president said improvements have also included a garden renovation, as well as an upgrade to exterior facilities. Rowing as a sport is one of the world’s oldest traditions. Beginning as a method of transport and warfare, rowing became a sport with a global following. It is a part of the cultural identity of the English-speaking world. In its modern form, rowing was developed in England in the 1700s. Today it is both an amateur sport and an Olympic event. Rowing can be done by one person (sculling), or up to as many as eight people per boat. “Once you get started, you can’t stop,” said Volz Bachofer, who can’t get it out of her system at age 70. “It’s good for your health. Good for fitness. Good for camaraderie.” Volz Bachofer rows with three other women on a weekly basis. “We hold each other accountable,” she said, noting ZLAC has independent rowers as well as adult and junior competitive teams. “Our rowers head out to the Charles River in Boston, the holy grail of rowing,” she added. Volz Bachofer said all of the improvements to ZLAC’s clubhouse are anticipated to be done in about 10 months. She said their plans include “replacing the landscaping on the perimeter of the club and putting in all-new fencing and gates as well as new signage.”  ZLAC’s president said the club would like to do more outreach into the community. “We’ve been in Pacific Beach for a long long time, but I think a lot of people still don’t know about us,” Volz Bachofer said. “We want to be a good neighbor in Pacific Beach.” Celebration 1111 Pacific Beach Drive. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 10. Info: For tickets and information, visit zlac.org.