‘Be Fruitful’ organizer in north Phoenix wins Pay It Forward award

Pay It Forward is sponsored by America First Credit Union and Super Star Car Wash
Last year, the organization gathered 90K pounds of fruit for six charities. Pay It Forward is sponsored by America First Credit Union and Super Star Car Wash.
Published: Mar. 23, 2023 at 4:56 PM MST|Updated: Mar. 23, 2023 at 5:52 PM MST
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PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - We decided to Pay It Forward in north Phoenix to Jodi Floyd, who started an organization called Be Fruitful. “I nominated her because she does great work,” said her friend Betsy Ingram. “What she is doing she is picking fruit from neighborhood trees and she is donating it to nonprofits and I think that’s a fabulous job. Because one, she is cleaning the trees, two donating to people who need food and what’s a better to Pay It Forward.”

Floyd, with help of her partner Lilly, organized a team of volunteers to set up a schedule and head out to pick and deliver the fruit. Last year alone, they gathered 90,000 pounds of fruit for six different charities. Because of her hard work, Ingram wanted to Pay It Forward to her.

So we walked to Floyd while she was picking fruit and she was shocked. “What the heck? What are you doing?” she asked. “We wanted to present you with $500,” said Ingram. “Thank you, oh my gosh,” said Floyd.” “We’re so happy because you do what you do to help people,” Ingram said. “She does it even in the rain. She’s like the post office. “That is so kind of you,” replied Floyd.

Be Fruitful volunteers are experts when it comes to picking oranges, grapefruit and lemons. Floyd was touched to be recognized as our Pay It Forward winner this week and she said that this all started with her landscaper. “Thirteen years ago, my landscaper said, ‘Do you want some citrus?’ I said sure. He said one of his customers had me trim their tree and we have all this fruit. After that, we started collecting fruit. We would drive by and see houses with citrus. We would leave flyers, and now we do over a hundred homes,” said Floyd. The picking season starts in December and usually ends in April. Be Fruitful is looking for volunteers to help. If you are interested, you can contact them at 480-252-5993.

If you would like to nominate someone for our Pay It Forward award, just fill out a nomination form on our community page.