Saving The Potatoes

Quinn and Sierra sorting potatoes.

Volunteers Quinn and Sierra did a great thing at The Wednesday Community Meal today.

They sorted through 60 pounds of potatoes that were gleaned from The Oregon Food Bank and to put it nicely, the potatoes were on their very very last leg. Some had gone over the edge and some were still good. They just needed careful examination and some loving care.

Sorting the potatoes wasn't a pleasant job and Sierra and Quinn were so great about taking it on.  But that's not all, they then peeled and washed every single one that was salvageable. Their hard work allowed us to serve delicious potatoes as a side dish today and prevented edible food waste which is a real problem in our country.  It would have been so much easier to toss the potatoes, buy more and rationalize that they're not that expensive, but that wouldn't have been the right thing to do. As I most often find is the case,  the right thing isn't the easiest thing.

According to estimates from the National Institute of Health, as a nation, we waste 40-percent of the food we produce. It's a real shame and something that needs to change.

Every week at the Wednesday Community Meal, we utilize gleaned food and serve hundreds, a well-rounded, four-course meal. It's not an easy task, but saving food enables us to serve a crowd on a tight budget and do a little bit of good for our World too.

I am grateful to Sierra and Quinn and all of the wonderful volunteers who work hard and help make a difference each week — It takes teamwork and I most definitely couldn't do it without you! We served 267 meals today.