Gleaning for the Food Bank

Our last trip was to join the VT Food Bank Gleaning team for a morning.
We stopped at the local Hazendale Farm, but there was not much left to do, so we heard a little about the gleaning operation and then went to help out in the warehouse before heading up to High Mowing's test fields to pick chard, cucumbers and squash.

It is not only impressive to see the unique partnership between the VT food bank, local farms and the end receivers such as schools, soup kitchens and mobile meal units, but really very impressive to see how they are able to move and process fresh product with very little advance notice of what will be available without losing too much of it.

I'm glad to be part of a community that supports it's needy and finds ways to connect between farmers and members of the community that need help. One of the institutions that benefits directly from the gleaning program is Four Seasons of Early Learning, a daycare center in Greensboro Bend. My son attends their program, as do the children of many of my friends; it is wonderful to see where the food comes from and inspired me to put my name down as a regular volunteer for the gleaning program to help bring this food to the school and other wonderful facilities in the area.