Wednesday, September 7, 2011

'Gleaners' from South Hadley church raise awareness about hunger and water


From Mass.

On Sept. 25, volunteers from All Saints’ Episcopal Church will take part for the third year in an eye-opening effort to combat hunger in the region.

They will spend a Sunday afternoon collecting produce from a farmer’s field, to be distributed to the needy.

It will cost nothing, except for the labor of the volunteers and the generosity of a local grower.

The veggies are all leftovers, destined to provide a rich fertilizer as they sink into the earth were it not for “gleaners” like those from All Saints’.

“After mechanical harvesters go through the field, we go in and pick what’s left,” said Cynthia Lambert, parish administrator at All Saints’.

Lambert said last year’s expedition, to a farm in Whately, resulted in more than $5,000 worth of organic produce, which was distributed to seven community kitchens – not only in South Hadley, where the church is located, but in such communities as Chicopee, Holyoke and Northampton.

“Not a single tomato was rejected,” said Lambert.

more here-

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/gleaners_from_south_hadley_chu.html

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