“Thanks for the zucchini and squash. Can you tell us how to prepare it? Many of our recipients have never seen them before!”
In my role as Gleaning Coordinator, I have heard this statement or something very similar at our recipient sites. With little knowledge of some types of produce, many at our recipient sites just don’t know how to process, prepare, and cook everything donated. GleanKY understands this and is committed to “consulting and connecting our recipients with food education, storage and preserving practices.”
A recent UK intern, Shayna, at GleanKY produced a resource guide for our recipient sites. She provided easy-to-prepare recipes of the various types of produce we glean, including zucchini and squash. Furthermore, she listed nutritional facts of each type of produce so our recipients can understand the health benefits of eating produce. This is only one tool we can give to our recipients to ensure gleaned produce is utilized.
This year, GleanKY is partnering with Greenhouse 17 to process produce for our recipient sites. Since the start of the partnership in July, the women at Greenhouse 17 have processed apples, pumpkins, squash, and bell peppers. We deliver the produce, Greenhouse 17 processes, and then we distribute the processed fruits and vegetables to several of our recipient sites. By processing the produce, Greenhouse 17 and GleanKY have eliminated a potential barrier to incorporating produce into our recipients’ diets.
There is no type of produce harder to donate than pumpkins. Many believe pumpkins are merely decorations and have no practical use in the kitchen. For this reason, GleanKY in partnership with Whole Foods Market hosted a pumpkin processing event at First Presbyterian Church in Lexington. Over 20 volunteers came out to help make pumpkin puree for pumpkin pies. Making over 120 pies, we have been able to distribute these pies to many of our recipient sites. In attendance were some of our recipient sites, including Greenhouse 17 and UK Campus Kitchens. At this event, we were thus able to impart some food education regarding pumpkins to our recipient sites. With this education and familiarity with the process, recipient sites are now equipped with the knowledge to process pumpkins, and, therefore, no longer believe pumpkins are just meant for Halloween!
Engaging our recipient sites is a critical part of our mission. GleanKY is dedicated to building up communities with the necessary tools to live a healthy life. Processed produce and a very accessible resource guide are only two of these tools. With your donation during this end-of-year giving campaign, we can ‘grow’ our operations and better meet the needs of our recipient sites in 2016! Won’t you help?