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Gleaning: Previously wasted food satisfies hungry mouths, lean budgets

Community Resource Network members visit this distribution center where collected food is stored. Speciality items are stored in a cellar area complete with freezers and shelves. Photo courtesy of S. Rachel Kiefer

Gleaning is technically defined as the act of collecting leftover crops from the edges of farm fields, where commercial machinery is unable to harvest produce. This practice dates back to ancient cultures, when it was sometimes embraced as a form of welfare. Today, a renewed interest in gleaning has sprung forth not only from humanitarian efforts, but from ecological and economic efforts as well. The definition has broadened, and today’s gleaning group members benefit from reduced-cost foods from varied industries, not just farms, while also rescuing valuable food before it’s wasted in landfills.

The movement has gained a foothold in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., home of Sister Rachel Kiefer. As she explains, the payoff for a little bit of dedication is enormous.

by Rachel Kiefer, FSPA
Because of my membership with the Community Resource Network, I usually have to buy only meat or fish and incidentals like flour, reducing my food budget for the past two years to approximately $2 per day. It has also allowed me to share food with some friends who are on a fixed budget. This membership requires about two to three hours of work a week and has saved me a lot of money on food.

The concept is fairly simple. Each member pays a specified amount at the beginning of the year (in this case, $32). In return, each member is assigned a job which takes approximately two to four hours a week. The assigned jobs vary so that most members can perform a job depending on their schedule.

Collected food is stored in two small sheds equipped with refrigerators and storage shelves. Each member may “shop” in those sheds every day of the week, if desired. The food may not be sold. Once a month members have access to specialty items. Choices might include frozen goods (meats, TV dinners), dented canned goods, opened packages of Starbucks coffee, bulk candy or items that were left over from a holiday are put out for members. Most stores have a pickup each day of the week and members sort the food and take it to the sheds. Other jobs are to clean the shed each day, take garbage and spoiled food to pig or chicken farmers, help unload food at the sheds, phone members about special events or an abundance of a certain food, or serve as a coordinator. There is also a person assigned to contact more stores. A board of directors oversees the entire operation.

We always receive a great deal of day old bread and sweets, and after one day in the shed we take as much of it as we want, while some is sent to food banks. Twice a week I take many loaves of bread to send to our center for senior street people, so this bread eventually is delivered to Seattle. I also get a large amount of fruit which I use to make jam to sell to women in our parish.

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