Our Story
In the winter of 1978, Maynard and Evelyn Johnson, the parents of our three founding brothers, began spending their winter months in the south Texas Rio Grande Valley. Never one to sit still, Maynard was intrigued by the citrus groves for sale. He soon purchased one, and then another. Before long, his holdings amounted to several hundred acres.
Maynard & Evelyn Johnson
The Orange Groves
In search of a better market for their fruit, Minntex Citrus was born in January of 1981. Brothers Woody, Bud and Chuck, began calling on organizations in southern Minnesota to sell Texas grapefruit and oranges for fundraising projects—hence the name Minn-Tex. The business was on its way.
After the brothers lost their father, Maynard, unexpectedly in 1983, the family sold most of the Texas groves, but Minntex continued to provide fundraising organizations with high quality citrus directly from the packing houses.
By the end of the 1990s, Minntex was operating two full-scale operations in Minnesota and Iowa, servicing most of the Midwest. In Minnesota, Woody's son, Matt joined the company after graduating college in 2001 to run the business alongside his father. The business remains in the family to this day.
Packing in the Minntex Warehouse
Woody & Tary Johnson
In the summer of 2018, the Minnesota Minntex operation began work on an online platform that would change the way fundraising was done. When the COVID-19 pandemic clouded the landscape for schools and other youth organizations, myfruitsale.com was ready.
Over the next few years, myfruitsale.com continued to become a larger part of our fundraising program, and in 2023 we began operating under the myfruitsale.com name. We remain passionate about creating opportunity through fundraising as we innovate and invest in our customers’ fundraising experience.
