At the height of the fall harvest, Pete Guichon of Felix Farms took time out of an extremely busy day to help members of the Tsawwassen Rotary Club sift through a few tons of potatoes.
The club was working on the Gleaning Project, an initiative of the Delta Food Coalition that ensures healthy, nutritious food grown in our community, that might otherwise go to waste, is provided to those who need it.
Gleaning is the process of picking out farm produce that is not quite up to the rigid standards of the retail market, but is otherwise still quite edible and, in the case of the Felix farm spuds, delicious.
The selected produce is then distributed to those in need. Over the course of a few hours, Rotary members picked about 1,200 pounds of potatoes.
"It was quite a fun process and didn't really take too much time at all," said Rotarian Neil Corbett. "On behalf of Rotary and Delta Food Coalition, I'd like to extend our many thanks to Pete and Felix Farms for their help. It was extremely generous."
The haul was then transported to Earthwise Garden to be packaged before being sent to the Delta Food Coalition, a network of community groups working to address food security issues in Delta. Member agencies include Deltassist, Delta Boys and Girls Club, Delta Mental Health, Earthwise Society and the Fraser Health Authority.
The coalition has a vision of "a sustainable community with healthy food for all." Delta residents live surrounded by farmland that produces a wide variety of crops, yet in spite of the abundance around us, there are many people living in Delta who do not have sufficient access to fresh, local food.
The Gleaning Project is a pilot program that shows how collaborative networks in the non-profit sector can help address real needs in our community.
