74-year-old Leotha Woodson is the founder of a charity organization known as Noah’s Ark. Every Saturday, Woodson offers a truckload of donated food to hungry residents living in northeast Washington, D.C.

Brother Woodson, loading his truck with apples from a SoSA gleaning in Virginia, to deliver to the homeless and needy in Washington, DC / Photo by Lacey Johnson, Bread for the World

Woodson is often provided fresh food by Society of St. Andrew for his deliveries into the nation’s capitol. One day in the late fall, a group of high school students, church groups, and families gleaned for two hours in the Marker-Miller Orchard in Winchester, VA. Elderly volunteers brushed dirt from fallen apples, while young boys triumphantly knocked apples out of trees using sticks.

The majority of the apples gleaned – a harvest of 18,000 pounds, or roughly 54,000 apples, went into Woodson’s truck. The remaining fruit went to other local food pantries and nonprofits in nearby Virginia cities.

“I think gleaning is one of the greatest things that God has instituted for his people to be fed,” said Brother Woodson. “There is nothing that I have ever done that is more rewarding than giving to someone that’s homeless and seeing a smile on their face.”