Y2K Prompts Wider Interest in Food Gleaning

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The largest gleaning operation in the country is run by the Society of St. Andrew in Big Island, Va. More than 17,600 volunteers collected 26 million pounds of produce in six states last year for food banks and soup kitchens, said Steven Waldmann, director of operations.

Unlike the Tahoma project, the society hasn't received any calls from clients with Y2K concerns. Waldmann attributed gleaning's rising popularity to increased demand from food charities that are beginning to understand the importance of supplementing canned and prepared foods with fresh produce.

What's unique about the Tahoma program is that the people who need it collect the food, said Garrett. Gleaners first gather enough to feed their families and then go back to salvage additional produce for area food banks. More than 50,000 people access the emergency food system in the county every month, Garrett said

The gleaning program, which operates with a small federal grant, skewers the stereotype that people who don't have enough to eat are hungry because they're lazy and won't work. 'You go out there and watch our gleaners and you know that isn't true,' Garrett said. Some of them are in their 70s. One woman canned 1,000 quarts of food not long ago, he added.

Contacts: Steven Garrett, extension educator, Washington State University Cooperative Extension, Tacoma, Wash., 253-798-3262. Steven Waldmann, director of operations, Society of St. Andrew, Big Island, Va., 800-333-4597.

Background:USDA web site. USDA gleaning information number: 800-GLEAN-IT.

COPYRIGHT 1998 THE American News Service, 289 Fox Farm Road, Brattleboro, VT 05301. For further information, please call 1-800-654-NEWS or e-mail info@americannews.com

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