Feeding Families

The Fields to Families organization provides an impressive harvest for the hungry. Their volunteers have already worked to pick 10,700 pounds of food this year. In Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties of South Carolina, the non-profit group coordinates these donations of fresh produce from local gardens and farms. Last year, they distributed more than 43,000 pounds of food to area agencies that help families in need.

Fields to Families volunteers collect crops remaining in fields after they have been commercially harvested. They are gleaning at Boone Hall Farms in Mount Pleasant through the end of May. Some teens are volunteering daily to pick for the hungry. More volunteers come as groups on weekends. They always need people to pick vegetables and fruit at farms, help in farmer’s market booths, or transport produce.

"We're not a business, we're a mission," says Director Jacki Baer. Agencies that provide food to the hungry can take as much as they need of the produce. The donations are given to food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, churches, and outreach programs who distribute it through their food programs to the hungry. South Carolina has 250,000 residents at high risk of going hungry. These children, families with single mothers, and seniors live in poverty and rely on food pantries. Baer says, "The only requirement for food donations... is that there is hunger."

Check out their Spring Newsletter and volunteer opportunities at their website or call them at (843) 881-6798. Baer encourages people to plant a little extra in their gardens to donate at their farmer’s market booth or to be picked up. Let's plant a few more seeds right away.