Okanagan Gleaners — An Okanagan miracle story

Gleaner: Noun; a person who gathers small amounts of grain or other produce left behind by regular harvesters
—Miriam Webster

There is a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted
—Ecclesiastes

You may not have heard about the Gleaners, but you need to know about them, and if possible you should join them. Their work is truly miraculous.

[From the Gleaners website] The Gleaners exists to transform produce that might otherwise be wasted, into nourishment for the millions of the world’s hungry. The Okanagan Gleaners developed a mission of “feeding the hungry of the world in Jesus’ name”. A dedicated group of individuals gather together in Oliver BC, Monday to Friday, to process raw vegetables into a dry vegetable product which is then made available to Christian organizations to help feed the hungry of the world.

As they prepare for the arrival of summer volunteers travelling and staying at our campground or RV Park we are enhancing our recreation area with equipment for volleyball, horseshoes, basketball, and pickleball. We are especially grateful to the volunteers who recently painted the pickleball court lines. A recent article in Castanet describes how Osoyoos Secondary School students volunteered at the Okanagan Gleaners in Oliver this past week.

“On Monday, 14 Grade 10 students joined in on volunteer efforts organized by teacher Jill McCullum. “Their combined efforts help produce 7,000 servings [of food],” Okanagan Gleaners said on social media. A group of Grade 8 OSS students also volunteered. Students also presented a poster and two pickle ball bats and balls to the non-profit.”

This is just one example of how volunteers join the process of sharing food literally all around the world. Their story is as effective as it is amazing:

“Okanagan Gleaners Society was founded in the autumn of 1994 by a small group of Christian believers in the South Okanagan Valley, out of a growing concern for the hungry people of the world.

​Fruit and vegetable prices in the Okanagan at the time were sorely depressed. Meanwhile, they saw good food being wasted, lying un-harvested in the fields and orchards. Confronted daily by media images of people starving in other countries they felt a responsibility to salvage this God-given abundance of food.

Thus, the vision for Okanagan Gleaners was born. With God’s leading they could save the surplus food and send it to the poor and needy! The gift of food would help extend the hands of missionaries reaching out to a hungry and dying world.

The Gleaners’ vision quickly became a reality. Many people joined the society. A local orchardist offered a small acreage with an old 1920’s tobacco-drying barn. Soon volunteers painted and renovated the building into a food-processing plant. Production began in July 1996. In the first-year vegetables were cleaned and diced by hand with a typical kitchen knife. That year 26,000 servings of dried soup mix were packaged and made ready for shipping.

Today, the society produces dried vegetable product that may contain cabbage, onions, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, beans, peas, split peas, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, turnips, eggplant, zucchini, pot barley, split peas, lentils, potatoes and salt.  Over one hundred million (100,000,000.)  servings have been produced since 1996 and distributed around the world.

Check out this video for more information and inspiration.

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