20,000 pounds of green beans will feed North Alabama hungry
By delivering 20,000 pounds of green beans, the Society of St. Andrew will fight statistics placing Alabama as no. 2 nationally in food hardship.
- Volunteers in Tennessee bag greens beans at a similar drop by Society of St. Andrew.
The beans will arrive Aug. 18 at 8 a.m. at Asbury United Methodist Church. A commercial grower in eastern Tennessee is supplying the beans, Mary Lynn Botts said. Botts serves as North Alabama Gleaning Coordinator for the society.
Non-profit agencies who feed the hungry and churches will receive the produce, totaling about 60,000 servings.
“The grower’s culling machine spits out approximately 1,000 pounds of beans every 10 minutes that are either too short, long or broken for resell. These beans get carted to a landfill,” Botts said. “Society of St. Andrew bridges the gap between produce going to waste at the farm level. We recover it and get it to agencies feeding the hungry.”
Scheduling volunteers is “always a matter of faith,” Botts said. “The more folks you have, the faster it goes.” She needs about 100 volunteers to finish the work in four hours.
Earlier this summer, a similar project for sweet potatoes was completed with 213 volunteers.
Volunteers will fill red, netted bags with 6-8 pounds of beans. “Downtown Rescue Mission is sending coolers to fill,” Botts said. Other volunteers tie bags and “wheelbarrow” bags into piles for each agency’s needs.
“We form an assembly line passing bags with all remaining beans up to Manna House’s large truck,” Botts said. “I hope to have a prayer team for the hungry and each agency as they pick up their beans.”
“The beauty of this event is it’s intergenerational. At the sweet potato drop, we had grandparents, mothers, fathers, college students and children of all ages,” Botts said. Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops also helped.
Community groups, like Inside-Out Ministries, and agencies across North Alabama will receive the produce. “We’re glad for anyone feeding the hungry to receive beans,” Botts said.
Asbury Community Thrift Store and Asbury UMC are paying transportation costs. The society can schedule smaller amounts for churches or groups to pick up.
For more information, call 256-658-7555, send email to gleannorthal@endhunger.org or visit endhunger.org or frac.org.
