It was last year around this time that two tractor-trailers dumped giant mounds of sweet potatoes in the middle of Shepherdstown, where crowds of people were gathered with their mesh bags in hand, waiting to bag the potatoes as fast as they could, reload them on the trucks and get them to local food pantries.Ready, set, go! Children scrambled to the top of the piles, sending potatoes tumbling down to the eager hands three-deep around the edges of the potato mountains. The goal was to be done by 2:00 p.m, but so many helping hands showed up -- students, families, everyday people -- that the goal was met by 11:00 a.m. The street was swept clean, and the potatoes were in the food banks within a few hours.
It was a fun-filled free-for-all and a demonstration of how many hands make light work.
There's an organization called the Society of St. Andrew (www.endhunger.org) that sponsors gleaning projects, using volunteers to go in to fields after machines have finished harvesting to gather the edible but not-often-pretty food. With world hunger peaking and so much food going to waste, it is a way for communities to come together to do something about the problem.
And I just got word that another potato drop is coming to town soon. I'll be there.
2 comments:
I was so amazed when you told me about the potato drop last year. What I still can't figure out is where the sweet potatoes end up, and why the people who end up eating them don't get the fun of bagging them? Will you find out for me? Seriously!
The people who eat them get their food from food pantries and other places that feed the poor. The ones we bagged went to several poorer counties in W.Va. Go to the Web site I put in the entry and read all about the gleaning projects. I think they do this all over the world to feed the hungry.
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