Vegetable Basket Program puts excess harvest to good use
Mondays are busy for Carol Doyle, Food Pantry Coordinator at Keystone Opportunity Center in Souderton. She said that, as she spoke, a truck was on the road picking up 180 bags of food following a food drive at St. Maria Goretti, in Hatfield, to be brought to the center, and another volunteer from her agency was heading to Rockhill Mennonite Day Services to retrieve about a pickup truck’s worth of food. Doyle herself was collecting fresh vegetables to be brought back to the center too, but on a smaller scale.
The Vegetable Basket Program is the reason for the busy Mondays. Now in its third year, it allows famers and those who just plum grew too much produce a chance to donate their excess food. Run by the Community Nutrition Coalition, which comprises six area food pantries, the program allows growers to leave their goodies at one of five drop-off points on Monday mornings.
On this particular Monday, about a dozen bags and two boxes of produce, including everything from corn to peppers to tomatoes, were left in front of the Mennonite Conference Center. Doyle then collects them and takes them back to Keystone Opportunity Center, where the produce is weighed and repackaged. They’re then distributed to needy families in the Souderton-Telford area. The Mennonite Conference Center has been doing a similar program for about 20 years, Doyle said, but the Nutrition Coalition has been involved in the last three years in coordinating it with the conference and the six local pantries. Each pantry is responsible for picking up the goods at its designated drop-off point.
“This [is] part of what we do on Monday,” Doyle said. “It’s our work day.”
The take was a little slim when the program started July 13 — Doyle said the first day brought in an 8-pound box of zucchinis. Now, the program is in the throes of massive vegetable donation. With 122 pounds of produce collected Aug. 10, Doyle said she expects the donations to remain strong through September.
And that’s fortunate, because Doyle said her agency is seeing a lot of new faces asking for fresh produce. She adds that food donations typically decline in the summer months.
“We all can say that we have seen clients come in who have never had to seek assistance, either by food stamps or by our pantry, and that’s due to the downturn in the economy,” Doyle said. “There are new people who have never had to look for help.”
Though it’s not a pickup truck’s worth of food, the amount easily fills the trunk of Doyle’s beige Toyota Camry as she takes it back to Keystone Opportunity Center, to be distributed Tuesdays through Thursdays. All kinds of produce are accepted, and the program will continue through early fall.
And the fresh food is a welcome break from the ubiquitous canned foods that are synonymous with pantries.
“The Vegetable Basket Program has been a tremendous help to our pantry in offering our clients seasonal and healthy food, which sometimes they don’t have access to,” Doyle said. “Usually pantries will donate staples like canned fruits and vegetables, so having it fresh — it’s wonderful.”
Food drop-offs may be made every Monday from 9 to 10 a.m. In addition to the Mennonite Conference Center, drop-off locations include: Deep Run East Mennonite Church, Blooming Glen Creamery Apartments, Indian Valley Mennonite Church, and Plains Mennonite Church.
For more information, contact Carol Doyle at 215-723-5430, ext.116.
The Vegetable Basket Program is the reason for the busy Mondays. Now in its third year, it allows famers and those who just plum grew too much produce a chance to donate their excess food. Run by the Community Nutrition Coalition, which comprises six area food pantries, the program allows growers to leave their goodies at one of five drop-off points on Monday mornings.
On this particular Monday, about a dozen bags and two boxes of produce, including everything from corn to peppers to tomatoes, were left in front of the Mennonite Conference Center. Doyle then collects them and takes them back to Keystone Opportunity Center, where the produce is weighed and repackaged. They’re then distributed to needy families in the Souderton-Telford area. The Mennonite Conference Center has been doing a similar program for about 20 years, Doyle said, but the Nutrition Coalition has been involved in the last three years in coordinating it with the conference and the six local pantries. Each pantry is responsible for picking up the goods at its designated drop-off point.
“This [is] part of what we do on Monday,” Doyle said. “It’s our work day.”
The take was a little slim when the program started July 13 — Doyle said the first day brought in an 8-pound box of zucchinis. Now, the program is in the throes of massive vegetable donation. With 122 pounds of produce collected Aug. 10, Doyle said she expects the donations to remain strong through September.
And that’s fortunate, because Doyle said her agency is seeing a lot of new faces asking for fresh produce. She adds that food donations typically decline in the summer months.
“We all can say that we have seen clients come in who have never had to seek assistance, either by food stamps or by our pantry, and that’s due to the downturn in the economy,” Doyle said. “There are new people who have never had to look for help.”
Though it’s not a pickup truck’s worth of food, the amount easily fills the trunk of Doyle’s beige Toyota Camry as she takes it back to Keystone Opportunity Center, to be distributed Tuesdays through Thursdays. All kinds of produce are accepted, and the program will continue through early fall.
And the fresh food is a welcome break from the ubiquitous canned foods that are synonymous with pantries.
“The Vegetable Basket Program has been a tremendous help to our pantry in offering our clients seasonal and healthy food, which sometimes they don’t have access to,” Doyle said. “Usually pantries will donate staples like canned fruits and vegetables, so having it fresh — it’s wonderful.”
Food drop-offs may be made every Monday from 9 to 10 a.m. In addition to the Mennonite Conference Center, drop-off locations include: Deep Run East Mennonite Church, Blooming Glen Creamery Apartments, Indian Valley Mennonite Church, and Plains Mennonite Church.
For more information, contact Carol Doyle at 215-723-5430, ext.116.
