From Sandy Vivian: As I was organizing After the Harvest photos for our website yesterday, I looked at those pictures of green, lush farm fields and smiling faces on a sunny days…and it made me dream of spring and summer!
Of course, that’s our busiest time at After the Harvest, along with the fall and harvesting all of those gorgeous apples (which thankfully fed many hungry people in our inaugural first year) but we’re still working pretty hard in the winter, too. Lots of people ask what goes on with After the Harvest in the winter…
Well, as you might imagine, there’s been a whole lot of planning going on by our small, but mighty staff of three, which includes our leader Lisa Ousley, executive director; Karin Page, Program Director (and gleaning leader extraordinaire) and me(!)—I’ve come onboard full-time as Outreach Coordinator.
Karin has been attending conferences to network with local farmers—the Great Plains Grower’s Conference and the Missouri Organic Association Conference. And she’s been connecting with local food pantries, including holding a round table discussion with pantry representatives to find out how we can better serve them and their clients in the coming year.
We’ve also used the winter to put our heads together and figure out how to make our volunteer—each more wonderful than the next, by the way—gleaning experience the best it can be. We’ve started from the ground up…and we’re looking at all aspects from the communication process to the at-the-farm gleaning itself. In my new position, I’ll be working closely with volunteers and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Although our volunteers have said that gleaning has been a fun and fulfilling experience for them, there’s always room for improvement. Do you have some ideas about how to make your volunteer experience better? Our ears are open!
Happy gleaning and thanks so much for helping us feed those in need,
