Download When the massive earthquake struck Haiti this January, the Ontario

Seniors In Action
Dehydrated Foods for Haiti and Beyond
Nancy Little
Production at the Ontario Christian Gleaners is in high gear these days. Demand
has been high for more dehydrated vegetables and fruits used to produce a dried
nutritious soup mix and fruit snacks for the hungry in twenty-six different needy
countries.
“Feeding the hungry is the focus of OCG, and the community at large likes what
we are doing,” says manager Shelley Stone.
That community approval is evident when the doors open every weekday
morning at 8:30. Anywhere from forty to seventy persons (some from as far as Drayton
or Caledonia) show up eager to help in preparing produce for drying. Older adults, high
school students, and housewives are among some of the people from over fifteen
denominations who work side by side cutting and trimming vegetables and fruit. The
prepared product is put through a chopper, fed through the dehydrator, and eventually
bagged.
Each day the group is brought up to date on what donated produce has come in,
what special need has been met—varying from a much needed truck driver to a
donation of 18,000 lbs. of dried soup beans from one source, and a large amount of split
peas from Saskatchewan.
“God has provided the volunteers and the foodstuffs for us to keep operational
each day. With our truck we are able to pick up produce when the phone rings. In the
winter we are receiving carrots out of the Holland Marsh, potatoes from Grand Bend,
‘glean’ from the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto, tomatoes and peppers from the
Loblaws’ Distribution Centre,” says Stone.
When the devastating earthquake struck Haiti this January, the Ontario Christian
Gleaners were already ahead of the game, having given Haiti high priority the previous
year. Of the 3 million servings of soup packaged in 2009, twenty-five percent went to
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Haiti. When the next packaging is done this month, close to one million more servings of
soup will be ready and much of it will go to Haiti.
In response to those who wish to help in some way, Stone says, “We are always
looking for donations of dried products to add to our soup mix: soup beans, onion
flakes, pasta, parsley, barley. Fresh produce is welcome since our volume increases
every week as we continue to grow. We also have a building permit in hand for an
addition to move our dryer into its own room to decrease the noise level and to provide
more storage space. Financial donations are also gratefully received.”
Since there is such a need for food in developing countries, the OCG prayerfully
selects relief organizations that not only meet physical needs but promote the Gospel.
“My prayer,” says Stone, “is that people receive both physical nourishment as
well as spiritual nourishment.” (The Gleaners can be contacted by phone at 519-6248245 or on line at www.ontariogleaners.org. Nancy Little is a freelance writer from
Cambridge who may be contacted at [email protected] )