Every fall, La Salle High School picks a fight. A fight with hunger in Washington state, that is. The student body is rallied, mobilized and sent out into various orchards in the Yakima Valley with the sole purpose of picking fruit for donation to Northwest Harvest. They call this their annual pick-a-thon. While philanthropy is at the heart of this endeavor, the teenagers, of course manage to squeeze in some good times. Rooted asked Amara Gamache, a senior at La Salle, to record the goings-on of her picking group in pictures for us. Under a cool blue sky, way out west on Ahtanum Road, this particular group found themselves at the Kearny pear orchard. After some safety talks and a primer on pear picking, the students got to work. They learned that teamwork made for a good way to bring down the high fruit, and quickly developed a one-above, one-below fire line of sorts. The easily accessible low hanging fruit made for quick work and filled the buckets and bins in good time. In between there may have been some laughs. All this fresh produce will be distributed to food banks across the state. Now that’s a fight worth picking for.
Thank you, Amara for taking the time to document your day in the orchard for rooted!
Such a great article. It’s amazing how much the students of LaSalle give back to their community. Outstanding!
I am so proud of LaSalle highs commumity spirit of giving and love for others in their area. And grateful and blessed my beautiful granddaughter, Amara, has the opportunity to be a part of that spirit of generosity. Love the positive influence kids get there supporting projects like this. It can’t help but make the world a better place one good deed at a time. Nice article and pictures Amara!
What a wonderful endeavor, guys and gals!