The Society of St. Andrew is a grassroots, religious-based grassroots nonprofit organization that works with all denominations to bridge the starvation gap between 96 billion pounds of food wasted every year in the United States and nearly 40 million Americans living in poverty. SoSA relies on support from donors, volunteers and farmers as they collect excess crops from farmers' fields and farms after harvest and deliver them to needy people across the United States. SoSA provides nutritious and healthy products through innovative, cost-effective programs such as Potato Projects, Collection Networks, Harvest of Hope , and Seed Potato Project.
Picking up is a biblical practice about the harvest of hands left in the fields after harvest. Staff of the Society of St. Andrew coordinates volunteers, farmers, and distribution agencies to provide food for the hungry through the collection. Every year, tens of thousands of volunteers come together all over the country to collect the remaining food in the farmers' fields and gardens so that it is not in vain but goes to the desk of the needy.
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The Santo Andreas Society is unique among hungry relief organizations for various reasons. Here are four organizational characteristics that govern these grassroots organizations apart:
- SoSA supplies fresh fruits and vegetables that are essential for nutrients rather than high-calorie "food fillers" for the most vulnerable people. That means improving health and well-being and full stomach.
- Unlike many organizations, the SoSA does not charge a handling fee. Fresh and nutritious food is given to agencies that serve the poor at no cost to them, which helps them stretch their already tight budgets.
- The SoSA program builds communities by bringing together people in farmers' fields or around "throwing away" many potatoes to work collectively to help needy neighbors.
- Each program recognizes a spiritual component in helping others and therefore offers educational programs, Bible studies, and seasonal devotions designed to feed the spiritual hungry as they help feed the physical hunger of others.
United St. Andreas adheres to Christian principles of good stewardship. Therefore, about 93% of all funds collected by the St. Andrew Society are spent on direct delivery of food and services to the hungry. SoSA volunteers have saved over 500 million pounds of products since the Society of St. Andrew started its collection and rescue operations in 1983. After factoring in administrative overhead costs, it means that food is provided at a cost for SOSA for just under $ 0.02 a portion. In other words, for under $ 50, the Society of St. Andrew can provide someone who is recommended USDA vegetables and fruits requirements for a full year.
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History
United St. Andreas was started by Pdt. Ken Horne and Rev. Ray Buchanan, two United Methodist ministers, concerned with world hunger. In 1979, the two ministers were given a special "appointment outside the local church" at the time of the Bishop of the Conference of Virginia, Kenneth Goodson so they could find the St. Union. Andreas on the Big Island, Virginia. Over the next five years, both pastors and their families live together to model a simpler lifestyle that rejects consumerism by planting their own vegetables, raising sheep, chickens and rabbits, etc. At the same time the two pastors lead the workshop to be responsible for lifestyle and hunger problems. During one such workshop at the Methodist Church of Franktown United on the East Coast of Virginia, a farmer named Butch Nottingham asked Ken and Ray about the facts they presented about food waste. From the discussion that followed, the Potato and Produce Project was born. On 3 June 1983, a farmer from Chadbourn NC, donated a tractor-trailer of sweet potato to United St. Andrew. The first loading of this saved sweet potato is sent to Central Virginia Food Bank in Richmond, Virginia.
Since the first load in 1983, the Society of Potato Projects and Produce St. Andrew has distributed over 500 million pounds of food to a hungry United. Initially, the ministry was operating from converted sheep farms on the ranch on the Big Island. A new building was built in 1990 to accommodate emerging ministries. Also in 1990, as a subsidiary of the Potato and Produce Project, St. Andrew started the Potato Seed Project to offer help to the poor who wanted to grow their own crops.
In 1985, the Society of St. Andrew launched the Harvest of Hope, a collection camp and learning for the young. The first event was held at Camp Occahannock-on-the-Bay, in Virginia's Eastern Shore, and headed by Rev. Rhonda VanDyke Colby. The main component of Harvest of Hope is the field of collection. As more people are exposed, they want to introduce it to their own church. As a result, the Gleaning Network was established in Virginia in 1988. Since then, the collection has grown dramatically.
Beginning in 1992, the St. Andreas has grown to other states in the form of Regional Offices and polling ministries.
Program
The SoSA volunteer network is channeled through three main programs: Potato Project, Collection Network, and Harvest of Hope.
Potato Project
The Potato Project is the Society of St. Andrew's program. This is a cost-effective way to transfer production to hungry American desks, not to landfills, reduce waste and meet social needs at the same time. Since the Potato Project began in 1979, over 500 million pounds of results have been saved through this program and other SoSA programs. Although logistics can be complicated, the concept of the Potato Project is practical and straightforward: the load of potato tractors and other products is often rejected by the commercial market or potato chips factory due to imperfections in shape, size, surface stain, or sugar content. Usually, this perfectly rejected load ends up in a garbage dump. Through the Potato Project, however, the Society of St. Andrew can divert 45,000 pounds of fresh and nutritious products into public kitchens, American Native reservations, pantry food, low-income housing areas, local churches and other starvation institutions. for distribution to the poor. Its products donated, so Society of St. Andrew only pays for transportation and food packaging - only six cents per pound or two cents per serving. The food is passed on to those in need at no cost to them. The SoSA program operates on individual donations, church donations, and foundations providing less than 7% overhead.
Refining the Network
Gathering is a traditional biblical practice of collecting crops that should be left in the fields to rot or be hijacked below after harvest. Because the food can not be sold, usually for cosmetic reasons, some farmers allow the grinders to choose what remains after harvest to donate to those in need. It is often more cost-effective for farmers to get their crops than to pay back pickers through the fields for missed results. The Society of St. Andrew's Gleaning Network co-ordinates volunteers, farmers and distribution agencies to save food for the needy. Tens of thousands of volunteers from churches, synagogues, scout troops, senior citizen groups, and other organizations participate each year in Gleaning Network activities across the country. Every year, tens of millions of pounds produced are saved and given to the poor at no cost to them. Scavengers are people of all ages and income levels who give their time and energy to this process. Within 48 hours of reaping the results, hungry Americans usually eat the collected food. Every year, about 30,000 people join the Gleaning Network in saving over 15 million pounds of fresh and nutritious food for their hungry neighbors. Society of St. Andrew has a staff who gathers Network Coordinators in several states as well as volunteer coordinators across the country. Volunteering can occur during one morning or during years of service, and is seen as a practical humanitarian response to the problem of hunger.
Harvest of Hope
Harvest of Hope is an ecumenical study program, worship, and mission action of the Santo Andreas Society. At Harvest of Hope, the participants work in the fields gathering food for the hungry, studying the problem of hunger, and participating in Christian worship. Events take place throughout the year: week-long retreats for upscale youth (classes completed 9-12) and their adult sponsors; weekend retreat for junior youth (sixth grade finish 6-8) and their adult sponsor; weekend retreats for college and young adult groups (ages 18-30); and intergenerational retreats over the weekend for ages 10 to 100 years. Harvest of Hope educates participants on issues of hunger domestically and globally and encourages them to make a lifetime commitment to be part of the solution.
Location
In addition to its national headquarters on the Big Island, Virginia, the Society of St. Andrew operates regional offices in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi. These offices set up an extensive polling network that covers many of these countries and is responsible for all operations of the Society of St. Andrew in their respective states.
References
External links
- Organizational home page
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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