POP is always looking for dedicated volunteers to help with ongoing support of community orchards. The best way to find out about these opportunities is to join POP’s Volunteer & Events email list via the link below. These email are sent out more frequently during POP’s most active seasons in the spring and fall, and will include information on all planting events, workshops, and orchard work days. Are you interested in fundraising, communications, and outreach? At times, POP may be in need of assistance with grant-writing or editing, researching and writing blog posts, identifying new funding sources, planning and carrying out non-planting events, or graphic design. Sign up for the Volunteer Email list to learn when such help may be needed!
Please note that POP has very limited capacity to accommodate groups of volunteers, but we can occasionally support these requests. 5-10 volunteers is often the maximum needed for most opportunities. Except in very limited circumstances, we are unable to work with groups of 15 or more people, and request that any corporate group that would like to schedule a volunteer work day with POP make a sliding-scale donation in support of our programs. Suggested contribution amounts range from $500 for a smaller group, up to $2,000 for a group of 15 people.
You can also visit the Events page to sign up for upcoming events.
POP sends out emails to the Newsletter list around 4 times per year. This list is for seasonal recaps and major events and updates.
POP also manages two email lists via Google groups for those interested in more in-depth information on specific programs or topics (the frequency of emails can be adjusted by you following sign-up):
- The POPHarvest Gleaning listserv (for local and regional harvesting events)
- The Philadelphia Orchard Group (PHOG) listserv to receive tips about fruit-growing, pest and disease management, recipes, and more!
POP Community Agreements
POP staff and board have created community agreements to uplift our commitment to mutual care, respect, justice, humility, growth, and community building in the spaces in which we work collectively. POP encourages all POP partners and volunteers to uphold these values through the following:
- Respecting everyone’s identity, ability, background, voice, experience, and boundaries.
- Committing to making spaces and experiences as accessible as possible: physically, socially, and personally.
- Committing to listen for understanding and create opportunities for all voices to be heard.
- Creating inclusive learning environments where people have the opportunity to both teach and learn.
- Accepting a shared responsibility to hold ourselves and one another accountable for these agreements’ intent.
POP’s anti-harassment policy is shared as a reference here and POP’s Complaint Form may be used to document any incidents or misbehavior.