My name is Janice Gatenby. I started coming to KGF a few months ago. I wanted to go to the Gleaners for two reasons. The first reason is they help to feed the world. The second reason was that I wanted to get to know more people in my new church.
We left Kelowna by carpooling at the ungodly hour of 7am. You have to leave that early because the Gleaners work only half a day and start at 830am until noon. I suspect that things can get pretty hot down in Oliver during the summer months and that’s why they don’t work in the afternoons. The ride down was a lot of fun as we got to know each others backgrounds. Pastor Mike doesn’t let you away with much when he wants to know who you are. I think he has filed our info away for future messages. Ugh!
We were greeted by a leader of the gleaning operation who put us to work right away after a prayer. Our main job was to cut out the bad parts of apples which would then be cored and cut into smaller pieces for drying. The pieces are placed on cookie trays and placed in a huge dryer. All food is dried so it can be shipped to developing countries in a safe and efficient manner. The main food sent is soup made from all the different vegetables the Gleaners have harvested and dried. The soup is shipped in small plastic bags in steel barrel drums. In the kitchen there is a map of the world which has arrows showing all the countries which have received food from the Oliver Gleaner Centre. At this point there are about 80 countries that have benefited from receiving nutritious meals from right here in the Okanogan.
The day ended with the team cleaning every thing up together and it was amazing how fast and efficiently everyone worked. If you ever want to spend a day feeling like you did something worth while please join us on our next trip down to Oliver? The work isn’t hard but very productive and I know I wouldn’t miss it.
P.S. Be sure to stop at Tickleberries in OK Falls for delicious ice cream as your reward on the way home.
Janice
(More pictures from our experience here)
