Many years ago Helen Williams related a story to me about a time when her children were young, their whole family took part in an annual gleaning project, the North Carolina "Yam Jam." She said it was a wonderful experience especially for her children. Since that time I have looked forward to a period in my life when I too would have the time to glean crops. One of the first things I did after retirement was to contact the local coordinator of the Society of St. Andrew, which is an ecumenical, non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to leading others into lives of Christian community and service.
The scriptures make it abundantly clear that God intends that those who have been blessed with plenty should share their abundance with those who do not have enough. In the United States, 27 percent of all the food produced each year is lost at the retail, consumer, and food service levels. That figures out to be nearly 1.5 tons of food per year for every man, woman and child in the United States who face hunger. Every single day, 263 million pounds of food is thrown away. Food that is perfectly edible. And to top it all off, this does not even count the food left in the fields.
What breaks my heart is that while all that food is being wasted, there are more than 40 million Americans who struggle daily to get enough to eat. Nearly half of these people are children. A large number are elderly. But no matter who they are, or where they live, or why they are impoverished, there is no excuse for any Child of God to go hungry in America.
Hunger is a complex tragedy that holds a large part of the world's family in bondage. It is hard for an individual to feel that there is anything that they can do to be effective. I found that the Society of St. Andrew through it's great organization makes it possible for individuals, families, and church groups to make an incredible impact. All I had to do was to sign up and give them my e-mail address. Every week I am told about opportunities around eastern North Carolina where I could glean fresh produce that will be lost if not harvested. I
So, on a beautiful Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago, I drove to a farm
down below Garner and pulled into a large meadow to park my car. Next
door was a 35 acre field that a farmer had recently harvested of sweet
potatoes. By 9:00 AM the field was covered with gleaners. Some had
brought tools to dig the left over potatoes out of the dirt, but it was obvious
that we could make a huge impact on hunger if we just harvested what was laying
on top of the ground. There were potatoes everywhere. Within two
hours I had picked about thirty bags. It was actually fun listening to
the families interact with each other. For the little kids it was like a
treasure hunt. Whenever one of them would find a big potatoe they would
scream with delight and shove it in their bag. By one o'clock most
everyone had gone. 450 people had gleaned 35,000 lbs of sweet potatoes from one field in four hours. I have just received my weekly e-mail, and there is another field ready to be
gleaned on Wednesday morning. Since I am now blessed with the gift of
time, I'll be out in the fields once again, helping to put food on someone's
table.
If anyone wants to learn more go to www.endhunger.org. There you can read about the Society of St. Andrew's mission to end hunger in America.
(Data Source: Society of St. Andrew, www.endhunger.org.)
