Destiny Archuleta's waist-long hair gleamed in the sun as she arduously moved the apple picker — that was more than twice her height — from one branch to another.

After one hour, the 5-year-old's labor, which resulted in rosy cheeks and sweaty forehead, paid off. She had a paper bag filled nearly halfway with small, golden apples from the Community Farm off Agua Fría Street.

Destiny, her aunts and cousins, decided to join other community members and Earth Care professionals to harvest fruits and vegetables that, for the most part, will be donated to local food banks.

Destiny and her cousin Avelino Trujillo, 6, quickly got the hang of how to use the apple pickers. On some occasions, the apples landed in the apple picker basket. Others times, not so much.

"Ouch — I got hit on the head by one apple," yelled Avelino with a smirk on his face.

Their aunt, Michelle Lopez, 41, helped organize the outing after she heard of the event at Santa Fe Community College, where she's working toward a business and accounting degree. One of her business-management classes requires community service hours, Lopez said.

"I wanted to give my time to someone that's not going to profit from it," said Lopez, who also took her 11-year-old daughter, Melanie Lopez.

In a nearby orchard, Iris Sánchez and her husband, Gabino Valenzuela, along with their 12-month-old twins, also picked apples. Sánchez planned to make apple pie.

Saturday's event had a double purpose.

On one hand, it was a chance to lend a helping hand to the community in this economic crisis, said Carolyn Stephenson, executive director of the Community Farm. Residents were welcomed to pick apples or harvest tomatoes, calabacitas and green and yellow wax beans from what Stephenson has dubbed The Milagro Bean Field.

But the event was also an opportunity to launch the Youth Food Cadre Americorps Program, an initiative led by Earth Care International of Santa Fe. Earth Care received a more than $150,000 grant from Americorps in June to hire 13 young professionals whose roles will be to work with residents, organizations and governing bodies to help increase food production in Santa Fe, improve food access, and do education outreach, said Bianca Sopoci-Belknap, Earth Care associate director in Santa Fe.

Saturday was the last of a four-day orientation process for the group. Among those taking part were Matthew Young and Emma McGowan, who spent part of their day clearing the orchard of rotten apples and putting them on the compost pile.

Meanwhile, Destiny and her cousin Avelino excitedly ran after the apples that didn't quite make the apple picker baskets.

"We're going to cook them," Destiny said. "It'll be an apple pie."

Contact Sandra Baltazar Martínez at 986-3062 or smartinez@sfnewmexican.com.