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Summer is prime time for picking: The Adams County Gleaning Network gears up as school gets out.
Jun 20, 2010 (The Evening Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Summer might be a time to take a break from school, but for the Adams County Gleaning Network it's time to keep working hard.
With summer comes no more teachers or books but for many children who rely on free and reduced lunches during the year it may mean going hungry.
So the gleaning volunteers will fight that as much as they can providing locally-grown fruits and vegetables to many area organizations, like Meals and More through the Prince of Peace Episcopal Church in Gettysburg.
The program provides meals and activities for children between the ages of 7 and 12, for those whose home lives offer little supervision or enrichment in the summer months.
Meals and More is just one of the many programs who will be reaping the
benefits from the gleaning network collected and gave away fresh-picked strawberries Thursday from The Peter's Orchard in York Springs.
Roughly 20 volunteers came out for two hours Thursday to pick about 150 quarts of strawberries that were then distributed to a soup kitchen and Survivors Inc.'s emergency shelter, said Jerry Althoff, who runs the network with his wife Jan.
Thursday was the first time this season the gleaners were out in numbers, and they want to keep plates and bellies full throughout the summer. What's great about providing for groups like Meals and More, Althoff said, is that it's children who need to learn the importance of eating their fruits and vegetables. For the rest, it's still important to provide balanced diets.
Unemployment rates are still high, Althoff said, and there's the possibility of another state budget impasse, so gleaners want to do what they can to help out in tough times.
When money gets tight, people start scrimping at the grocery store, and often times fresh fruits and vegetables are the first to go, Althoff said.
Canned fruits and vegetables have processed sugars, which Althoff said can lead to a rise in diabetes and obesity.
This summer, they're continuing to provide
for local food banks and agencies and also teaming up with The Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College, which provides pre-packaged meals to local agencies like the South Central Community Action Program, Survivors Inc., and Adams County Office for Aging.
The meals must be balanced and include things from each food group, and that's where Althoff said the gleaners can come in.
Who gets the freshly-gleaned produce depends on timing, Althoff said. Thursday's pick couldn't sit around all weekend at some of the pantries that had already distributed food for the week, so they'll get some next time.
Althoff is working on some gleans this upcoming week of more strawberries and cherries.
Some of the food can sit around, like potatoes and squash, he said. But others like strawberries need to be eaten fresh or put into storage. Often times working with SCAAP, which has seven pantries, produce can be stored for a few days to spread the wealth.
Gleaning is hard work, as Althoff said the volunteers have full-time jobs.
"If we had the manpower, we could do this full time," he said.
Recently, an average of 20 volunteers have been showing up at each glean, but Althoff said he'd like to see numbers rise to 30 or 40.
For him, the hardest part is walking away, when there aren't enough people to get all the food available.
"There's food going to waste in this county at the same time people are going hungry," he said.
And that's what keeps Althoff and the network's volunteers collecting as much lettuce, onions, apples, cherries, strawberries as they can. Not to mention any other local produce they find along the way.
The Althoffs began the network last year and gathered and gave away 80,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables to local shelters and food banks.
kharmon@eveningsun.com
IF YOU GO
If you want to help glean this season's fruits and vegetables, contact Jerry Althoff by phone at 334-0601 or by e-mail at jlalthoff@pa.net.
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http://www.eveningsun.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Evening Sun, Hanover, Pa.
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