CUMC bags potatoes to help community
About 200 Concord United Methodist volunteers bundled up and brave the 23-degree temperatures to glean sweet potatoes that would feed the area’s hungry.
Church members, ranging in ages from 5 to 85, gathered at CUMC off Roane Road, Farragut, Saturday morning, Dec. 10, to pick through area farmers’ sweet potatoes, which didn’t make it to market, so they could be bagged and given to Society of St. Andrew, a mission organization that takes unmarketable produce and gives them to food banks.
Mike Smith, a volunteer with Society of St. Andrews who led the gleaning at CUMC, said the volunteers went through about 40,000 sweet potatoes.
“We’ve got a lot of potatoes out here,” Abby Mink, 16, said. “It’s nice to bag it up for people and know it’s going to someone who can use it.”
“We are working very hard to find opportunities for outreach and to just give back to the community,” Kim Mink, CUMC director of family ministry, said. “We have so many church members, scouts and all kinds of other people involved in this project over time. It’s just our way of giving back.
“We have a lot of projects that involve missions and outreach,” she said.
“[The sweet potatoes] are going to eight different counties in East Tennessee,” Smith said. The produce will be distributed to 10 church food pantries and shelters.
“We love being able to serve others in the community and help people with no food, especially this time of year,” Gill Sallade, CUMC volunteer said.
Sophie Belmont, 9, came to help her mom, Tracey Belmont, a gleaning volunteer.
“It’s important to see what a difference a few people can make for a lot of people,” Tracy said. “It also teaches kids not to waste anything.”
“It’s just a feel good thing to do,” Ellen Lloyd said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“I just wanted to help out as much as I could,” Ron Welch said.
“We love it,” Renee Conger, church member, said. “It’s a little colder than last year. We just added another layer.”
The church has participated in the crop drops since 2010.
“This is our sixth potato load, and we had two green bean loads and a watermelon load,” Mink said. “The Knoxville area salvaged 750,000 pounds of produce, That’s pretty good for one spot. It’s a pretty good way to repurpose food.
“I come to all the drops,” Bob Nelson said. “[Volunteering for the program] is the right thing to do.”
“We come every time Mike [Smith] calls us,” Suzanne Freeman said.
Emma Cabbage, 11, volunteered Dec. 10 to earn a Girl Scout badge. A member of Troop 28058, she is working toward her service hours.
“We also help with the community garden and food pantry,” Emma’s mother, Kristin Cab-bage, said.
Part of the sweet potatoes went to a food pantry in Union County. Mike Seals of Corryton Hospital Pantry arrived to pick up about 300 bags.
“We will give these out Dec. 22,” Seals said. “On Thanksgiving, we had 440 families come through [the pantry]. A lot of families are not well off there.
“We’ve been dealing with [The Society] for seven years,” he said. “It’s a good deal.”
