Taste and See

By Jean Blish Siers *

Girls eating tomatoesWhen we glean, people will often ask – a little shyly — if it’s okay to eat something in the field: sample a ripe, red tomato, or grab a bite of a watermelon that broke trying to get it in the truck. I always tell them yes, and so do the farmers.

Our good farmer friend, Charlie Barbee, who this time of year takes groups of us into ...

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Catching the Gleaning Spirit

By Jean Blish Siers *

Boys with melonsTeenagers threw watermelons at me this week. Really big watermelons. And if I’m honest, and I try to be, sometimes it really hurt. But I didn’t mind. Why? Because we were gleaning at a local farm and were able to send those watermelons off to agencies in four counties. We loaded trucks; we loaded cars; we loaded SUVs. And while we broke a few, we would take ...

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Stealing from the Table of the Poor and Hungry

By Jean Blish Siers *

There’s a great internet meme that shows up in my Facebook feed pretty often. It’s the wonderful Pope Francis saying, “You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That is how prayer works.” I love the quote and every time it pops up, it makes me smile. It reminds me of James 2:26: “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is ...

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Saddle Up – Let’s Ride

Picture 150 bike riders under a huge, blue sky, cruising across the wide-open plains of Nebraska for four days. This June, for the 22nd year, the Nebraska United Methodist Bike Ride for Hunger (NUMB) will bring riders together from across the country to pedal about 250 miles in a huge circle route in the State of Nebraska. For the second year in a row, part of the proceeds of the ride will support the Society of St. Andrew. While last ...

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LSU Sweet Potato Drop 2017

Let the Sweet Potatoes Roll!

In Southern Louisiana, one often hears the Cajun expression, “Laissez les bons temps rouler!” – “Let the good times roll!” But on the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge, it’s a good time when the sweet potatoes roll at the annual sweet potato drop. They roll in on a truck, get bagged up by a large number of student volunteers, and they roll out in agency trucks, vans, and trailers to feed the hungry across ...

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From Farm to Women’s Shelter

By Jean Blish Siers *

Strawberries in ThomasvilleMost strawberry farms sell only what is picked that day, allowing them to provide the freshest berries to their customers. Society of Andrew is grateful when those growers call us and allow us to pick up the still wonderfully fresh fruit and get it to neighbors in need.

A couple weeks ago, the owner of Mabe’s Berry Farm, north of Winston-Salem, NC, called to tell me she had ...

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