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The Society of St. Andrew (SoSA) is the largest gleaning organization in America, working to share food with people in need. The organization, which serves Lowndes County and the River Region, has supplied one billion pounds of food through the Alabama Gleaning Network, with a commitment to reducing food waste and ending hunger.

“We are thrilled to celebrate this milestone and are so grateful for our generous farmers, volunteers, and partner agencies across the nation who make this work possible. But our work doesn’t stop here!” says Elizabeth Wix, SoSA’s Regional Director for Alabama. “We want to keep the momentum going and rescue and share even more food throughout the state of Alabama! By forging partnerships among Alabama growers, volunteers, and hunger-relief agencies, we create collaborative, locally-led, sustainable, charitable food systems across our state, making farm-to-table produce accessible to folks in need”

Founded in 1983, SoSA partners with farmers across the state and the nation to rescue food that is good to eat but unable to be sold for various reasons by gleaning from local farmers. Rescued produce, distributed through the network of local feeding agencies, is with people experiencing food insecurity. 

Jeremy Lynch with Love Loud Lowndes County, Mobile Pantry and Ministry Center has picked up within the region as well as driven his bus up as far as Alabaster to get loads of produce from network Crop Drops and down to Geneva County to glean satsuma fields to take back to the River Region. 

 Elizabeth Wix, SoSA’s Regional Director for Alabama outlined partner agencies which help with the effort by serving the River Region.

“In Autauga and Montgomery Counties, we work with Autauga Interfaith Center, Community of Hope, Episcopal Church of The Holy Comforter, Friendship Mission, Heritage Baptist Church, Mary Ellen’s Hearth, Montgomery Area Food Bank, Montgomery Baptist Association, Montgomery First UMC, New Birth Ministries, and the Salvation Armys, many of whom distribute to the larger River Region, including Lowndes County,” Wix said. “In the last four years, our partners at Son Light Ministries, alone, have distributed over 129,800 pounds of gleaned food across Lowndes, Dallas and Perry Counties on top of the tons of food they get from other sources as well.” 

According to Wix, SoSA volunteers glean at several Montgomery farmers’ markets where farms throughout the River Region donate leftovers after the market.

“We don’t have very many donor farms where we glean in fields in the River Region, so we welcome the opportunity to get the word out,” Wix said. “We are always happy to welcome new farmers to work with us- the more partner farms we can get in a county – the more food we can serve that county. If any farmers are interested in donating, they can reach out to our Program Coordinator, Adrienne Standridge at (205) 245-3214 or al-glean@endhunger.org.”  

The Alabama Gleaning Network began in 2005. Since then, over 17,700 volunteers have rescued and distributed over 25.3 million pounds of food, providing over 101.5 million servings of nutrition to food-insecure Alabamians, helping to alleviate community health and hunger issues while also reducing the environmental impacts of food waste. 

“We are thrilled to celebrate this milestone and are so grateful for our generous farmers, volunteers, and partner agencies across the nation who make this work possible. But our work doesn’t stop here!” Wix said. “We want to keep the momentum going and rescue and share even more food throughout the state of Alabama! By forging partnerships among Alabama growers, volunteers, and hunger-relief agencies, we create collaborative, locally-led, sustainable, charitable food systems across our state, making farm-to-table produce accessible to folks in need”

The effort is made possible by local farmers, volunteers who glean and distribute produce, donors to fund the mission and community partners who strengthen this grassroots network daily. The society will host a series of events and activities in September, including gleaning opportunities and community celebrations. 

“Healthy food shouldn’t be a luxury,” Wix said. “While we celebrate this achievement, we still have a long way to go to fight food insecurity in Alabama and make sure everyone has equitable access to fresh produce.” 

Wix said the society is floating plans for expansion through the hiring of an area gleaning coordinator.

“Our hope is to eventually hire an Area Gleaning Coordinator to recruit farms, volunteers, and partner agencies to facilitate more work in the Black Belt/River Region counties,” Wix said. “It’s hard to get consistent gleaning opportunities in an area in which we don’t have a constant physical presence, but our network of partner agencies are dedicated to feeding our neighbors in need and often travel over to nearby counties to glean with us. We hope to cultivate more gleaning relationships within the county to shorten this distance for them and reduce food miles as well.” 

SoSA brings people together to harvest and share healthy food, reduce food waste and build caring communities by offering nourishment to hungry neighbors. Since its founding, over 25.3 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables have been saved and distributed to hungry families across the state, providing 101.5 million servings of nutrition to low-income Alabamians. To learn more, visit www.endhunger.org/alabama.