Last week I visited the Gleaners plant in Lavington and was blown away by the scope of their operations.
Did you know that more than five million meals each year are processed and shipped from the Gleaners to countries such as Bosnia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ghana, Haiti, Jordan, Mexico, Moldova, North Korea, Tanzania, Ukraine, Zambia, Zimbabwe and others? Five million food servings, coming from our home here in Greater Vernon and ending up going around the world to feed millions of people! I find that remarkable. Quietly and humbly, dozens of volunteers are saving many, many lives and most of us who live here don’t even know it.
The North Okanagan Valley Gleaners Society (“The Gleaners”) is a group of volunteers who take the opportunity to turn surplus food crops into nutritious meals for a hungry world. Additionally, they collect donated medical equipment and distribute it to institutions in many countries. Distribution is done by reputable and established Christian aid organizations who have partnered with them to make sure that the food and equipment is reaching people who need it the most.
To produce this amount of food servings in 2014, more than 750,000 pounds of vegetables and fruits came into the plant and was used, with about one third coming from local growers and the rest donated by growers and others from Kelowna, Kamloops and further afield. Along with the soup mix, apple snacks are also being widely distributed, thanks to BC Tree Fruits Cooperative in Winfield. Many local growers and producers are also regular donators to the cause and make up the community circle.
The food that is shipped is in the form of a bag of dehydrated soup mix that can be mixed with water, and feeds 100 people. Donations of fresh, dried and frozen vegetables — potatoes, beets, onions, garlic, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lentils, peas, beans, etc. are received throughout the year in quantities that range from a few pounds to many thousands of pounds. Local volunteers from this area process the produce and then everything is then chopped into small pieces and spread onto pans before being loaded into the dehydrators.
At the end of the year when a good variety of ingredients have been gathered, the volunteers combine them all into a flavourful soup mix, bag them and place them in drums and ship them out. Similar to the process for vegetables, apples are diced and then dried and bagged in 100-cup servings as well.
How much does it cost to produce five million meals and how do the Gleaners do this? The cost is very little, with lots of local donations by growers and hours and hours of volunteer time. The miracle here is that a small community with simple resources can feed millions in the Third World by pooling resources, working together and offering goodwill so others less fortunate can survive.
Additional costs of plant production comes almost entirely from the sale of used furniture at their Gleaners Used Furniture and Appliance Store at 4405-29th St. in Vernon. A major donation of the payment of rent and utilities is yearly made by the kind donations of the plant building owners, the Jensen family, allowing the pant to function.
The Gleaners Plant is truly a community endeavour as well as a well-run operation, with the volunteers coming from all over the area and arriving at about 8 a.m. and usually leaving by noon. They perform all sorts of duties, from coring apples to spreading food onto trays to go into the dehydrators and cleaning up the mess. They are a happy bunch and know their volunteer efforts are really appreciated by hungry, and sometimes starving, families. If you want to donate or have some time and want to be part of really saving the world, call Harold Sellers, manager, at 250-558-8872.
