National Volunteer Week
April 18th - 24th was National Volunteer Week!
Here at The Gleaning Project, our mission could not be accomplished without the dedication of our supportive and passionate volunteers.
To honor our volunteers this year, we asked a handful of our loyal volunteers to answer some questions about their experiences with The Gleaning Project.
Check out what they have to say!
How did you first hear about The Gleaning Project?
“When I retired, I moved back to my hometown of Chambersburg and wanted to find volunteer opportunities that would serve the community in some manner. A friend told me about The Gleaning Project. Food that was not being used, and eventually discarded for whatever reason, was harvested by volunteers and being provided to people who could not afford to purchase it or who didn’t have access to it. It made so much logical sense, I couldn’t wait to sign up!”
-Sherrie McCleary
“2 years ago I was invited to a community planting event put on by The Gleaning Project and The Master Gardeners in Franklin County”
-Donna Bombardieri
“I have worked as a gleaning volunteer since its very beginning as the Adams County Gleaning network. So, I guess this is the start of year number 13.”
-Ken Althoff
“In previous years I had been on mission trips with my church, but had decided in 2019 to do my mission work with The Gleaning Project and have been volunteering ever since.”
-Carol Deardorff
Why did you decide to volunteer so much time to The Gleaning Project in 2020?
“I wanted to be there even if it meant picking corn in a mask on a hot day! People needed it in 2020 more than ever.”
-Sherrie McCleary
“It was a way that I could help those who are food-insecure. When I was teaching, I had kids that were hungry most every day. We used to give sandwiches out to kids that came to our department at lunch or before school.”
-Jack Stansbury
“I wanted to give my time to make sure that anyone experiencing food insecurity had a way to find something nutritious. I struggled with that as a kid with my family growing up and it always meant the world to find something so fresh.”
-Bernie Armstrong
Tell us about a favorite memory you have from volunteering.
“So many great memories! Too many to list them all! Riding in the Glean Machine was the best memory of all; Passing a field of hot peppers and being able to smell the scent of the peppers; Watermelons in wheelbarrows; Cantaloupes tossed bucket brigade style from the field to the truck; Sorting potatoes in a hobbit style shed built into the side of a mountain a week before Christmas; Making applesauce in a church kitchen; Eating watermelon in the field still warm from the sun with sweet juice running up my elbows; And all those sunsets as we loaded the truck.”
-Sherrie McCleary
“There are so many. Picking apples off the trees using apple pickers; Finding an apple tree with about 20 good apples on it; Helping people when they arrived at the food pantry, carrying their food boxes to their car, getting them a mask, telling them what produce we had available to them that day, greeting them, smiling at their kids.”
-Jack Stansbury
“My favorite memories have to be the ones where I’ve gone along to do sorting. Be it potato bins that I’ve tipped into head first to sort or squash buckets that I’ve thrown some and heard them splat against the compost bin.”
-Bernie Armstrong
“So many great memories! Always nice to meet new gleaners and their families, as well as returning volunteers with the same passions. I remember on one particular glean, the volunteers were wrangled in by a cow bell!!”
-Donna Bombardieri
“There were so many memories but I think the one that is big in my mind is meeting each and every new gleaning coordinator and the assistants that worked under their direction. These ladies have never failed to step up to the plate and grow the gleaning project by leaps and bounds. I am looking forward to nothing but more of the same for the 2021 season.”
-Ken Althoff
“I have many memories but the favorite is meeting new people and making new friends. I particularly remember Brenda Altoff and her laughter. She became a wonderful friend. God has taken her from us but we often reminisce about her.”
-Carol Deardorff
What impact does The Gleaning Project have in your community?
“The impact on the community is multifaceted. The produce stand provides fresh vegetables for anyone who has an interest and a need. Many times recipes are available to provide the knowledge on how to use the available vegetables. Food is delivered to various missions and also senior living facilities and after school programs. This program touches many walks of life and many lives. In addition, it’s an asset to our local farmers and growers who are able to donate what they can’t use otherwise. A win-win for many in our community.”
-Sherrie McCleary
“I believe it makes a big difference in the lives of the food-insecure in our community. There's nothing so good as fresh produce picked fresh in the fields, and you can usually take as much produce as you want at the produce stand.”
-Jack Stansbury
If you could change one thing about our local food system, what would you change?
“The waste. I would absolutely love to shake every grocery store and food manager and just say listen, donate the food you can’t use or if it isn’t pretty enough. Lots of people need that! If there was a better way like a lot of food recycling in Europe (France and Italy especially where it’s now illegal to waste food and markets get fines for it!) I’d love to see that implemented.”
-Bernie Armstrong
“I'd like to see more awareness through speaking engagements within the community to let people know what The Gleaning Project is and what we do to impact the community!”
-Donna Bombardieri
“If I could change anything about our local food system it would be to see more locally grown food be available to remain in our community.”
-Ken Althoff
“The amount of waste. Seeing all the food that goes to waste should be unacceptable to anyone in food management.”
-Carol Deardorff
Thank you so much to all of our volunteers who contribute to a more equitable and sustainable local food system. A special thank you to our gracious volunteers who shared their experiences with us for this blog:
