Gleaning volunteers needed at Dutchess Farm.
For Immediate Release
June 6, 2008
For more information, contact:Judy Stermer
Office: 802-477-4108
Cell: 8020-505-0096
Gleaning volunteers needed at Dutchess Farm
Dutchess Farm in Castleton, with the support of the Vermont Foodbank’s Salvation Farms Gleaning Network, is seeking your volunteer help as it ventures into their first year of on-farm gleaning. Gleaning is the act of salvaging surplus crops that a farm deems unmarketable. Volunteers are needed to act as gleaners and assist with distribution of produce to local sites throughout the summer and fall.
The Vermont Foodbank’s Gleaning Network is an effort to replicate the work of the Lamoille Valley Salvation Farms throughout the state of Vermont. In the Rutland area, Dutchess Farm is taking the lead to spread this important work. Dutchess Farm will work directly with the Vermont Foodbank’s Program Director of Agricultural Resources, who will advise the management of a local food resource, while providing a service to area citizens who struggle to meet their food needs.
Anyone can volunteer—students from local schools and colleges who have a volunteering obligation to meet, members of church or community organizations, or concerned citizens who simply have an interest in seeing to share local foods with local feeding programs.
Gleaning compliments the campaign of buying local products, increases visibility of farmers markets and awareness of the localvore movement, and makes local food more accessible to all Vermonters. Gleaning is solution in action, offering on the ground education about community resources as well as empowerment for individuals involved in the gleaning process.
Please consider this as an invitation for you to act as valuable volunteers at Dutchess Farm. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Julie Barber at 802-779-3774 or email her at julesbnc@yahoo.com. By fostering a greater involvement of community members, we can educate our neighbors about food production, availability, and security.
For more information about the Vermont Foodbank’s Salvation Farms Gleaning Network visit www.vtfoodbank.org or www.salvationfarms.org.
### About the Vermont FoodbankThe Vermont Foodbank, a statewide organization, is the largest hunger-relief charity in Vermont, providing more than 6 million pounds of food to 270 local partner agencies in all 14 counties last year. The Vermont Foodbank and its partners served more than 66,000 needy Vermonters with more than 5 million meals in 2007. The Vermont Foodbank is a member of America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network. For facts and figures on hunger and poverty, to sign-up to receive our newsletter, to find a food shelf in your community, and to learn about the Federal Nutrition Programs, visit us on the web at www.vtfoodbank.org
