Gleaning for good: an old idea is new again

"These men are often blamed for what’s wrong with them," says the clinical social worker. "I see them early in the morning standing out in the cold after enduring a night of who knows what, and I want to give them a piece of fruit to offer a moment’s respite from their pain and suffering. That’s my hope: to provide something tangible, simple, and sweet in their lives."

Some gleaning programs have become an integral part of their community. Take the Novato Unified School District Gleaning Program. Every week for the past six years, parents, students, and members of this Marin County, Calif., community glean excess organic produce from a participating local farm. (There are about 15 in the program.) Through a partnership with Marin Organic, a cooperative association of local growers, that fresh chard picked by a volunteer on Monday finds it way into school pasta sauce later in the week.

The gleaned fruits and vegetables now offsets up to 25 percent of the district's weekly produce, according to Miguel Villarreal, the director of food and nutrition services for the small school district, where some 4,000 meals a day are dished up at 13 schools.

For Mr. Villarreal, who has worked in school food for 30 years and grew up helping pick crops with his parents in the fields, the program is a no-brainer.

"There is so much beautiful abundance in this area, and our school food program can use all the help it can get," says Villarreal, who sees educational and community-building benefits to the program, as well. 

Others raise some unexpected benefits of gleaning. Melita Love, of Farm to Pantry in Healdsburg, Calif., found a community of people in her new hometown when she started gleaning. Ms. Love has collaborated with local preservers to extend the shelf life of the bounty she and her crew harvest in such staples as applesauce and tomato sauce – think canning for a cause – that food pantry patrons can pick up along with gleaned fresh goods.

She's also worked with local groups to explain to patrons how to use produce that may be unfamiliar.

"The first time we dropped off kale to a food pantry nobody took it because they didn't know what to do with it," Love says. "So we did cooking demos for kale salad, kale chips, and a winter soup with kale, and we handed out recipes, too. Education is an important part of any gleaning effort."

Food Pool's Mr. Sigal points out that a group of gardeners who share their backyard bounty with less fortunate folk in his community have gone a step further, funding and constructing a community garden at a local food pantry where there was once an unused piece of land.

"A year ago, most of these people didn’t even know there was a food pantry there," he says. "There's this incredible value in creating community that goes beyond just sharing surplus fresh food."

• This article originally appeared at Shareable.net, a nonprofit online magazine that tells the story of how sharing can promote the common good.

• Sign up to receive a weekly selection of practical and inspiring Change Agent articles by clicking here.

Previous

1 | 2 | 3