A Long Weekend

 

By Jean Blish Siers *

biscuits Last year I visited one of the soup kitchens that receives fresh produce from us. They serve a hot lunch five days a week in an area that has become part of suburban Charlotte. From I-77, the driver sees shopping centers and shiny new housing developments. But a few blocks from the off ramp, in a quiet and well-kept neighborhood, dozens come daily for food and fellowship.

Volunteers bring plated ...

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Cold Choices

 

By Jean Blish Siers *

When the weather turns cold, as it’s been the last few weeks, with temperatures dipping to single digits at night and hovering near freezing during the day, I start to stew. And bake and sauté and simmer. I might have chicken broth bubbling on the stove while bread rises on the counter and a pie bakes in the oven.

Since I was a little girl growing up in ...

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Volunteers Collect Leftover Apples from Morris Orchard for Those in Need

New Era Progress Logo

 

by Sherese Gore, New Era Progress, Amherst, Va.

Instead of allowing produce to go to waste, one area orchard is donating its leftover fruit to the needy.

Volunteers, coordinated by the Big Island-based Society of St. Andrew, have collected leftover apples from Morris Orchard in Monroe over the last few weeks.

The Society of St. Andrew salvages and distributes about 30 million pounds of food a year to feeding agencies nationwide.

Morris Orchard donates ...

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USDA 2015 Guidelines Acknowledge Barriers to Access

Fruits & Vegetables

By Jean Blish Siers *

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its latest dietary guidelines for the American people. There was good news for some of us (Yippee, eggs are good!) but bad news for all of us: According to USDA data, about half of American adults (or 117 million people) have one or more preventable chronic disease. And about two-thirds of us (nearly 155 million people) are overweight or ...

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Ash Wednesday: Share Your Bread with the Hungry

Sylvester

By Jean Blish Siers *

Isaiah 58:6-7:  “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bands of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them,  and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, when the Christian ...

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SoSA – Charlotte Lost a Good Friend

Watermelons

By Jean Blish Siers *

In the winter, when the fields are quiet, I don’t hear from my volunteers as often. I had last seen Cheryl in late October when my husband and I took her a load of turnips and greens on a warm Sunday afternoon. Although she had been in and out of the hospital this summer, she said she was doing well and was already calling neighbors to come share in ...

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