“Produce Parade” feeds inner-city hungry -- Potato Drop goes awry, inner-city benefits

What originally started as a Society of St. Andrew (Advance #801600) Potato Drop – 45,000 pounds of potatoes dropped in a parking lot for re-bagging and distribution to feeding agencies – has turned into a “produce parade” right into the streets of neighborhoods that are most in need in the Fort Myers, FL area.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Fort Myers and Christ Lutheran Church in Cape Coral, FL have partnered to make a positive impact for those in need in the Fort Myers area. For three years, these groups have worked with the Society of St. Andrew, a national non-profit hunger relief ministry that saves fresh produce from being dumped due to market and cosmetic reasons, to deliver nutritious produce to critical feeding agencies. But the Potato Drop they co-sponsored in 2008 went slightly awry, producing an unexpected benefit.

“What an amazing morning! I never thought that showing up to help with a Potato Drop would lead to such an awesome experience of delivering food directly to the people who need it,” said a young couple who attend Christ Lutheran Church.

Organizing a Potato Drop can be very tricky. Between setting a date, getting volunteers to bag the potatoes, scheduling food banks and agencies to pick up the fresh produce, and hoping that a load of excess produce will be available through the Society of St. Andrew, any number of things is likely to go wrong. Miraculously, most events go off without a hitch, but during the Potato Drop in May of 2008, after all the potatoes were bagged and most of the volunteers had left, it became evident the food bank that had reserved half of the potatoes was not showing up. The remaining volunteers couldn’t just let those potatoes go to waste. Taking matters into their own hands, they loaded up their vehicles and headed to a low-income area of the city and delivered nutritious sweet potatoes to small food pantries, soup kitchens, rescue missions, local shelters, and a benefit event they happened upon that was being held for a neighbor in need. Every recipient was grateful for the food; each volunteer came back overwhelmed by the experience and with a story to tell. In fact, these dedicated volunteers were so impacted by their experience many became organizers of this year’s event and officially incorporated the “produce parade” distribution.

Child hands out food bag

“Rather than just dropping off a truck load of potatoes to a feeding agency, we had the satisfaction of meeting and talking to the people that we would otherwise have never met,” said Kimberly Volz, a Cape Coral, FL resident. “At the end of the day, my whole family felt really blessed by the opportunity for hands on mission work.”

The 2009 event, which has come to be known as the “Produce Parade,” included squash, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, and some citrus, all provided by the Society of St. Andrew’s Florida Gleaning Network. The groups partnered with Mount Hermon Ministries in the Dunbar area of Fort Myers where the potatoes had been distributed in 2008. After the food was bagged at the drop site, 12 trucks loaded down with 15,000 pounds of produce were driven to the inner city area. Mount Hermon Ministries, a Baptist mission outreach facility, is well known in the area for being an important asset to the community and their large parking lot was the perfect staging area as the produce “paraded” into the community. Smaller agencies picked up various produce and people in the neighborhood were encouraged to take bags home and to their neighbors who could not get out to pick up the food on their own. “One of the greatest things to come out of this year’s event is the connection that has been made between Mount Hermon Ministries and Christ Lutheran,” said Tracy Moffat, event coordinator. “Kids who would have otherwise never met, joined together to feed their own community – what a great way to share the love of Christ,” said Moffat. Plans are already being made for another “Produce Parade” in 2010.

The Society of St. Andrew (SoSA) is a national, faith-based, ecumenical, nonprofit ministry that gleans America’s fields and feeds America’s hungry. It effectively tackles the problem of hunger in America through its grassroots Gleaning Network, Potato & Produce Project and Harvest of Hope programs, which salvage fresh produce that will otherwise be wasted and donates it to feed the hungry. For more information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger relief programs: call toll free 800-333-4597; e-mail: sosainfo@endhunger.org; website: http://www.endhunger.org/. The Society of St. Andrew: Gleaning America's Fields ~ Feeding America's Hungry.