Terrell

Usually I like to keep these newsletters upbeat, fruit-filled and funny (hopefully you’re laughing with me and not at me) but I feel I would be doing a disservice if I didn’t note with great sadness the death of Terrell Rogers – an anti-violence activist who was shot and killed outside his daughter’s basketball game last week in San Francisco. We’ve worked with Terrell through the FruitGuys involvement in the Hunters Point Family organization and the program we sponsor called Somethin’ Fresh.

Hunters Point Family is an important agency in the Bay View Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco. Along with Somethin’ Fresh, which supports a group of young women entrepreneurs who run a door-to-door produce delivery service in the Bay View, Hunters Point Family runs the Girls 2000 program which shepherds at-risk youth, as well as the Peacekeepers, a crisis prevention, intervention, and response program for youth aged 10-22, which Terrell co-founded along with Demetrius Williams. The group is often used by community residents to quell conflicts that could erupt into turf wars. Terrell was a man who connected many different people, who worked to create a healthy community.

When I first met Terrell more than two years ago, he showed me the community gardens at the Alice Griffith Housing projects. While we talked, people kept coming up to him – wishing him well, checking in, saying hello. He was a man who instantly created community just through his presence. Community is important to The FruitGuys – community with clients, employees, farmers, vendors, and the public at large. We have been honored to serve and be welcomed to the community Terrell cared for, and we wanted to share his story, advocacy, and successes with you. If you are interested in Hunters Point Family and the Peacekeepers, check out www.hunterspointfamily.org. Please contact Takai Tyler at Hunters Point if you would like to donate in memory of Terrell. You can also contact me with any questions.

For fruit mix explanations, check out this week’s mix.

Enjoy and be fruitful! – Chris Mittelstaedt chiefbanana@fruitguys.com