Leamington volunteers slice and dice 250K servings of food for remote First Nation communities

Alison Klassenholds an orangecarrot that's nearly as thick andwide as a can of Pringles.

That giant carrot is set to be slicedup along with thousands of other similar-sized vegetablesthendried out and packaged as soup mix to be sent to six remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario this week.

• How do you get over 40,000 pounds of food to remote First Nations communities?

• Up, up and away: CBC Thunder Bay Sounds of the Season takes off with official launch

"It's a beautiful carrot," said Klassen, describing the producethat wasdonated by growers in the Leamingtonarea.

"It's just big, they would throw these out," she said, explaining the vegetable is simplytoo big for processing machines.

But it's not too big for theSouthwestern Ontario Gleanerspowerful processors: volunteers.

Young and Old

Every weekday at 8 a.m. a group of dedicated seniors put on hair nets, slide on sanitary gloves and grab a seat beside a rotating conveyer belt.

On that belt are not-so-pretty peppers and those oversized carrots that growers may not be able to sell to grocery store suppliers.

"What we do here gives life to many people," said Tina Quiring, Chair of the Southwestern Ontario Gleaners in Leamington.

She helped start this chapter about five years ago. On Tuesdays high-school students file in to volunteer their time. Most mornings the line is full of seniors who have turned feeding the hungry into a hobby.

Slicing and Dicing 'Miracles'

Gleanorsare a not-for-profit, volunteer-run organization with a few paid employees all of who have a hand in creating "miracles," according to Quiring.

"There are miracles happening here everyday," she said, choking up as she thinks of the food that once was waste but will now feed thousands.

The group will send 250,000 servings of food to six remote First Nations communities as part of CBC Thunder Bay's annual Sounds of the Season food drive.

• CBC Windsor Sounds of the Season

• Help people. Win prizes. Make cool things. Introducing CBC Windsor's activity calendar!

On the 15th, the planes full of food will travel from Thunder Bay toNeskantaga, Sandy Lake, Sachigo Lake, Weagamow (North Caribou Lake), Marten Falls and Kasabonika.

Wasaya, North Star Air, Perimeter Aviation and KBM Forestry Consultants have volunteered planes for the effort.

DONATE

Online:to theRegional Food Distribution Association (RFDA)

By phone:call 1-855-CBC-SOTS (1-855-768-7222)

In personfood and monetary donations collected at:

RFDA - 570 South Syndicate Ave, Thunder Bay, ON.
CBC Thunder Bay live broadcast on Friday December 15from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Thunder Bay International Airport