HOW TO SHARE THE FRUITS OF SPRING.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

Drive down most single-family residential streets in the San Fernando Valley and you see them - the tops of fruit trees peeking over backyard fences or sideyard shrubbery.

Oranges, lemons, avocados, plums, prunes, tangerines or big grapefruits - like the ones hanging from trees in Shirley Bleaman's Valley Village backyard.

Ripe and just waiting to be picked. But Shirley's 84, and she's not climbing ladders to pick anything anymore, even her juicy grapefruit.

"It's a sin to watch them spoil, and now I won't have to," she said Wednesday.

Nope, all over the Valley, surplus backyard fruits and vegetables that otherwise would rot on the ground or spoil on the vine will be put to good use, thanks to Citrus Sunday.

It's one of those ideas that makes so much sense you wonder why we haven't been doing it all the time.

Basically, whatever homegrown fruits and vegetables you can't eat or give away to friends, neighbors and co-workers, you put in plastic bags and drop off at your local fire station from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

On Monday, trucks from the Valley Interfaith Council - which runs 20 food pantries throughout the Valley - will pick up the fruit and distribute it to local families deemed "food insecure."

That's a term used in a UCLA study that estimates there are approximately 130,000 adults living in the San Fernando Valley who will not have enough food for themselves and their families to get through the month without giving up other necessities like shelter, transportation, heat, health care or clothing.

"No one should have to chose between paying for medication and putting food on the table," says Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith, who teamed up with VIC to make Citrus Sunday happen.

"People don't associate hunger and poverty with the Valley because we do not have visible signs, like the homeless encampments on Skid Row.

"I'm hoping we can make Valley residents more aware of this hidden layer of poverty, and give people means to contribute nutritious fresh fruit to the food pantries."

The phones at VIC have been ringing all week with seniors, like Shirley, who can't pick the fruit off their trees anymore and need some help.

"We're sending out youth group volunteers to pick the fruit for them," said Eileen Parker, a representative of VIC.

"The reason this is so important to us is because our food drives usually bring in canned and boxed goods. We know that for nutritional purposes we need to provide more fruits and vegetables, but we don't always have the money to acquire them or the means to store and refrigerate them.

"It's the missing link in what we do," Parker said. "We just know there are people out there with backyard fruit trees who would help us if they knew about all the people who need that fruit to get healthy, especially the elderly and disabled."

It seems only fitting that the Valley, which once was covered with citrus orchards, take the lead in this city in making Citrus Sunday a success.

Because Shirley is right. It is a sin to let it go to waste.

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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For locations and directions to your local fire stations, see http://lafd.org/fsloc.htm. If you need help in picking your fruit, call the Valley Interfaith Council at [phone].

Also, three Valley car washes are offering a coupon for a free car wash with each 5-pound bag of citrus fruits brought in on Sunday. They are: Stoney Point Car Wash, 21930 Lassen St., Chatsworth; Sherman Oaks Fashion Square Car Wash, 4625 Woodman Ave., Sherman Oaks; and Studio City Hand Car Wash, 11514 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

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Photo: Shirley Bleaman, 84, of Valley Village, will donate the grapefruit from the tree in her backyard to the needy with the help of volunteer pickers.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer