BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Countless Kern County families in need will have a bounty of fruit to enjoy thanks to one local family and a non-profit group from Los Angeles.

It all started when Rick Nahmias was walking his dog around his L.A. neighborhood and noticed a lot of good fruit was going to waste. And the simple idea of eliminating backyard fruit waste, while feeding those in need, turned into the grassroots group Food Forward.

"It felt like a way to do something outside the box, do something that was volunteer based, reconnecting community, dealing with people who are very food-centric and at the same time, get food out to people in need," Nahmias said.

Food Forward picks fruit all over Southern California, but ended up in Bakersfield after a neighbor who was familiar with Food Forward noticed all of the fruit just sitting on Les and Susan Denherder's trees.

"I said, 'I know where there are 200 trees and the fruit just rots and hits the ground,'" said Chris Johnson, who helped organize Saturday's fruit picking. "And she said, 'Let's go look at it' and we did, and here we are."

With the Denherder's permission, more than 40 volunteers showed up to their East Bakersfield property to help pick oranges off of the more than 200 trees that would have otherwise been wasted.

"Property owner benefits because they haven't got rotting fruit under foot and it doesn't bring ants and stuff, and then it gets put where it needs to be, with hungry people," said volunteer Barbara Stiles.

The 5,000 pounds of oranges will go to the Community Action Partnership of Kern Food Bank and be enjoyed by local families as early as Sunday and Monday, and in the current economy eliminating food waste is more important then ever.

"In the present economy, we have seen an increase in need for the food pantry's at a rising over 50 percent," Nahmia said. "We also know that even without that rise, people are getting much less healthier food in general when they are going out to get emergency need."

And while this was Food Forward's first pick in Bakersfield, local volunteers are hoping it will catch on.

"Being the agricultural hub that we are, I'm sure there is a lot more product," said Johnston.

Food Forward will only come up to Bakersfield to help pick fruit if there are more than 100 trees on someone's property.