As countless things have changed over the past year, the hunger epidemic around the world has not. It seems a daunting and confusing task to find a way to distribute food to those in need overseas, however the Ontario Christian Gleaners has made adjustments to make this as safe as possible.
The Gleaners is an interdenominational organization that acts as a food bank to the world. They use produce donations to package millions of dried meal servings and ship them around the world to over 45 countries. To make all this happen, The Gleaners has three needs: volunteers, donated produce, and donated funds. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has affected all of them.
“We are working with under 20 volenteers, in order to keep everybody distant,” says Elaine Merkus, manager of Ontario Christian Gleaners. “In terms of putting our food out, we’ve been really working at being creative in how are we chopping our food, how are we drying our food, but mostly being thankful for those donations coming in.”
The Gleaners is always looking for vegetables, nuts, beans, and fruit donations, as well as other materials that can be found on a list at ontariogleaners.org.
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