Page 39 - ATR 5 2014 web

the driVers take sPriNter VaNs daily to some of the 600 schools, usiNg
oNly maPquest to route. it’s iNefficieNt, but it’s free.

Kim Aaron describes the funding ing fruits or vegetables right off the vine CulTurE of giving
uncertainty, “We rely on people to write and loading them onto a truck. The It is a struggle. Yet, with the help
checks for us to pay the bills, and sud- Gleaning Project feeds many mouths, of donors and volunteers—families who
denly [when a tornado hits] everyone but it’s a logistical feat to pull off each volunteer to repackage rice or glean
only wants to write a check for disaster. field day. the fields, companies like Stallion who
It is like financial disintermediation. The actual gleaning is intense man- share their trucks or their transporta-
Instead of writing their regular check ual labor, especially when the product is tion expertise to move the food—the
for $50 every month, they write the something heavy like watermelons. So non-profit organizations find a way to
check and want it to go for disaster. the Alliance has enlisted the help of the do what for-profit distributors do.
And if they give it to me to spend on Arkansas Department of Corrections. Trucking expertise is needed in
disaster, I can’t spend it on anything When the field is close to a state correc- order to relieve Arkansas Hunger, Rice
else. That’s $50 I’ve lost to pay the fuel tional facility, the prisons supply labor says. “That is kind of what drove me
bill to go to Jonesboro.” and glean the fields. Volunteers also to helping the food banks. At the food
Some other challenges non-profits sign up to help glean the fields. banks, the people are volunteers, and
may face outside of funding is a lack of Then, there’s the issue of schedul- then the paid staff may be mostly cleri-
equipment. The Arkansas Rice Depot ing the gleaning day and transporting cal and know nothing about transporta-
distributes food to over 600 schools the product. They are time-sensitive tion, so we are able to help reduce their
in their Food for Kids program, which deliveries because the food needs to be costs.”
provides food to school-age children gleaned and on someone’s table before Charity requires giving money and
who don’t have access to food at home. it perishes. Rice says farmers can give time, but charity also requires a lot of
However, the Depot doesn’t own any notice to prepare a Stallion truck driver people with different skills and knowl-
routing software. The drivers take to go to the fields, but if the weather edge working together. For Arkansas
sprinter vans daily to some of the 600 doesn’t cooperate, it can’t happen. food banks, trucking expertise is neces-
schools, using only Mapquest to route. Then, of course, there is the truck. sary to make it all happen. Giving isn’t
It’s inefficient, but it’s free. “When you’ve got 20 truckloads of easy, and after holiday season ends,
Another cost is, of course, the truck tomatoes in South Arkansas that you’ve donations wane. Giving has to be a
itself. With only bobtrucks or sprinter got to get to Little Rock, you are talking regular part of the family, a regular part
vans, the banks can deliver nonperish- about refrigerated trailers and during of the company to keep these organiza-
able products and smaller quantities, the peak season of produce time, not tions afloat.
but they don’t have their own reefer too many people are going to pull off The maxim applies, “tis better to
vans for donated Tyson chicken or per- from where they are making their BEST give than receive,” for Rice when he
ishable fruits and vegetables from the money to donate time. So we are a dry describes a gleaning day that Stallion
state’s Gleaning Project. van carrier, but we have 2 refrigerated participated in. “I brought everyone
trailers. That’s what they’re used for- is together, to say something, and I started
THE glEaning proJECT for the gleaning program. That’s the bawling. It’s so amazing to see it work.
The Arkansas Hunger Relief only reason why I bought them, because I wasn’t paying them to be there. It’s
Alliance began the Gleaning Project it is a struggle to find help. part of our culture here. I learned that
three years ago, saving 40,000 lbs. of . . . It is going to continue to be a word, culture, from Steve Williams [of
produce from perishing in Arkansas struggle on the transportation side as Maverick Transportation]. We are try-
fields. Now, the Project has gleaned 1.5 long as there is a driver shortage and ing to create a culture that giving back
million lbs. of cabbage, watermelons, costs like it is, there is always going to is good. I don’t want [your] money, I
tomatoes, apples, okra, purple hull peas be a struggle. And it is a struggle the can give the money. I want [your] time.
and pears—healthy foods donated by whole nation faces,” says Rice. You brought your family to do some-
farmers. Volunteers flood a field, pull- thing good. That’s what we want.”

aRkansas tRuCking RepoRt | issue 5 2014 39