There is a common problem that food pantries often face: how to supply those in need with fresh fruits and vegetables. While dry goods and canned produce are common staples at food pantries, fresh produce is more difficult to supply, and as a result, the neediest people in our community have the hardest time maintaining a balanced diet.
For a solution, Haywood County only had to look as far as the local farmers in their area. Every year, farmers load up the best looking produce from their fields to be sold at various markets. However, they are always left with a surplus of less-attractive fruits and vegetables that are left to rot in the field. As Jim Geenen of Haywood County put it, “It’s not a problem that we don’t have enough food to feed people. We have a distribution problem.” So Geenan and his neighbor, Dick Sheets, teamed up with seasoned “gleaner” Bill Walker to devise a program to harvest and distribute the abandoned produce to feed the hungry in Haywood County. Bill Walker is the Western North Carolina gleaning coordinator with the Society of St. Andrews and typically has worked all over the region to provide pantries with fresh fruits and vegetables.
Geenan and Sheets have been working hard this year to find farmers and gardners all around the county that will let them pick over their harvest, coordinate volunteers to do the picking, and connecting with places like The Open Door in Waynesville and the Community Kitchen in Canton who can best use the produce. While they might be starting small this year, their only goal is to continue to grow each year. This is such a great example of communities working together to take care of their own people, and we couldn’t be happier to see them succeed!
Currently, they are still looking for more volunteers. Harvesting everything in the county is a big job and they need all the help they can. If you would like to be a part of this great movement, please contact Jim Geenan at jamesgeenan@yahoo.com or Dick Sheets at 260-750-9661.
Photo courtesy of The Mountaineer