Staying true to their name and purpose, the Sugar City Gleaners have been busy this year expanding their ability to provide food for those in need.
After using grants and donations to improve the building and signage last year, the Gleaners spent this year improving the land by planting trees that will produce fruit in the coming years. They also removed the sidewalk on the east side of the building in order to expand the garden space where they grow vegetables, and used the broken-up concrete to build flower beds next to the new trees.
Board President Theresa Howard explained that a member received a gift certificate to a nursery for a few hundred dollars after a utility company damaged their tree, so the member donated the certificate to Sugar City Gleaners. With it, they purchased eight dwarf fruit trees that will produce cherries, pears, apples and plums.
“As these things mature, they’re gonna start feeding people,” Howard said. “It’s wonderful. We’re so jazzed.”
The Gleaners provide food to members through food donations, grants and gleans. Food donations through Linn Benton Food Share come from Safeway and Walmart, and they use money to purchase discounted food items. Recently they even splurged on jars of local honey for each of their members.
“We try and supplement some of the wants,” Howard said. “You know, you don’t need honey, but sometimes you want honey, you know?”
The Gleaners recently received a grant through the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund to purchase food for its members, and a grant through IBEW Local 280 provided funding for needed electrical work to the refrigerators and freezers, with help from City and Suburban Electric.
“Without them, we’re not here,” Howard said of those who provide funding and assistance. “And our local people, God bless them; they come through (when we need something).”
As winter approaches, the volunteers working at the multifunctional thrift store/food distribution center hope to secure a way to install working heaters. Ideally, they say, they would like mini splits (also known as ductless heating and air conditioning units).
The expanded vegetable garden will produce plants such as tomatoes, blueberries, garlic, chives, peppers and iris flowers.
“It’s people feeding people,” Howard said. “And once you get started on it, it’s like you can’t stop. It’s so gratifying to feed people.”