Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Fair Share Gleaners is looking for a new van.
The organization’s current van is old and broken-down, but it is constantly in use bringing food to about 150 households in Sweet Home, said Gleaners volunteers Wilma Whitmore and Vi Hembree.
Fair Share Gleaners, one of two Gleaners organizations in Sweet Home, has been growing in numbers for several years, Whitmore said. It provides food to low-income families, the elderly and disabled persons.
With 150 households, the Gleaners include about 380 members, Hembree said. Of those, 55 are what they call adoptees.
“We call them adoptees because they can’t get out and glean,” Hembree said.
In the Gleaners program, members help gather food from area farms after they’re harvested. They glean whatever is left behind, from pears and broccoli to tomatoes and apples.
“It’s amazing how much stuff goes to waste in this world,” Hembree said.
The Gleaners divert food left behind and unused to people who need it and away from the landfills, Hembree said. When food goes beyond edibility, the Gleaners donate it to farmers, who feed it to livestock.
Members also perform a number of other jobs, from delivery to baking and running fund-raising events.
Members fill bags and boxes twice a week. The food includes fresh produce, breads from local grocers and sometimes fish and meat.
The group continually grows, Whitmore said. “Each week, it seems we get one or two more looking for help.”
All of the group’s income is from fund-raising events and donations, Hembree said, and the organization is able to pay rent and utility bills at its headquarters, located behind the Oregon Jamboree Office off Long Street.
Coming up with money to buy a new van is difficult, they said.
The group needs a delivery van or a cargo van, one that won’t strand its drivers on the road somewhere someday, Hembree said. The van must make regular trips weekly to Philomath and several times a week to Corvallis to pick up food from food banks. It also is used for trips to Costco and local grocers.
“We do all this with a van that is really old, really sick and very tired,” Hembree said.
Hembree and Whitmore are asking whether anyone in the community may have a van to donate or ideas.
They also are looking for a place to hold their regular bake sales, Hembree said.
The program has a maximum income requirement. For a family of two, the income threshold is between $2,200 and $2,300 per month.
Those interested in donating or looking for further information can contact Hembree at 367-2653.
WHAT YEAR AND MODEL IS THE CURRENT VAN?