By Andrea Flexhaug

THE OLD BARN is painted a subdued shade of brown. Its plain and unassuming appearance gives no hint of the work which goes on within its walls.

Inside, however, the Okanagan Gleaners’ barn is a happening place, producing five to six million cups of dried soup per year.

The concept for Gleaners started when a group of local residents from various churches began pondering the extra produce in the bounty of local fruits and vegetables grown in the sunny South Okanagan.

One of those residents was Bob Ellis. He says the group took inspiration from the organization Gleaning For The Hungry in California – which had dried otherwise wasted fruits and vegetables, to give to the hungry.  

“So we just started,” says Ellis, who is now the plant manager for Gleaners – which was formed in 1994.

“My wife felt that this is what God wanted us to do,” explains Ellis – who is retired, as are many of the volunteers at the Gleaners.

It was not a simple endeavour. A lot of planning and preparation went into the project  before the Gleaners began production two years later. They needed a piece of property first.

A local orchardist supplied them with 4.1 acres of rent-free property to use, solving the space issue; with the property came an old tobacco drying barn.

The barn dates back to 1927 – and in deference to the local historical society, Ellis says some of its history has remained intact. The old two by fours suspended from the rafters where tobacco was hung to dry remain where they were when the barn was built.

“What we did as a concession,” Ellis goes on to explain, was paint the barn’s outer walls the same original brown colours true to the 1920s, hence its old-fashioned appeal remains intact.

The program has taken off since the donation of a workspace. 

 “And so, obviously it’s grown considerably,” says Ellis.

Boxes of unneeded potatoes, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli and more come into the plant from local farms and further afield from the Lower Mainland.

All the produce is dried on trays in two big donated dryers, then put in large metal barrels and sealed until packaging takes place every January.

Soup is 90 percent of their product, and in January they bag it up in packages for shipping.

It takes 12 days to do six million cups of soup.

Most of  this year’s stock has already headed out to foreign parts such as Romania and Moldova. Ellis points out a large map in the hallway of the building which shows close to 60 countries that the Gleaners have sent food to over the years.

When they first started out 12 years ago, the Gleaners tried processing and drying cherries, but it was too labour intensive.

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There was also reason to forego the other local fresh fruit as well.

“The problem is all the other fruit comes at the same time as the vegetables,” explains Ellis, which was just too much to handle all at once. 

 Apples, are the only exception, as they can be put in cold storage until the Gleaners are ready to dry them into apple chips for shipment overseas.

Gleaners is run completely on volunteer power, and a lot of regular volunteers come from surrounding areas to lend a hand.

“We use a lot of church people, but there are people that don’t attend church that come down here,” says Ellis, including local service clubs and the like.

Faithful volunteers, like retired Oliver resident Bernice Dieno, have been with the Gleaners since the start.

“I love it,” she says.     “I would come every day if I could.”

Prairie residents who flock to the Okanagan in the wintertime, to avoid the worst of winter back home, also join in.

Hugo Muller of Winnipeg, one of the ‘snowbirds’ who is spending a couple of months wintering in Oliver, is keeping busy with the Gleaners.

“It’s just a marvelous program, when you think about how much food is waste,” he says, referring to the leftover produce that is put to good use by the Gleaners.

Most of the regular workers are retired. Among the older volunteers is 85 year old Gerry Hamilton, who has come down with a group of other men from nearby Penticton for six days a week, for the past year.

 “I just like doing things,” he says, and finds it rewarding knowing that he is helping feed “some little child, and saving its life.”

One young woman working with the Gleaners on a mild March day is cheerfully peeling potatoes, which will be chopped into little cubes for drying.

 “I believe in God. So for me, [the work]  is a tithing offering. It’s like 10 percent given to God,” says Lucille Israel.

Back outside the barn is a grassy area where volunteers can camp for a week or longer in the hot summer months, while working with the Gleaners.

While the old, tired brown barn has sufficed for 12 years, the Gleaners have decided to put it to rest.

The numerous renovations that have been done to accommodate the program are no longer enough, and a new facility is needed to expand the ministry.

“Now the regional district have recommended a piece of crown land down on Sawmill Road,” says Ellis, who adds that there are still a couple more departments to go through first – and then: “Hopefully it will go through.”

In the meantime, they are staying where they are.

April 2008