After graduating from Sterling College with an associate's degree in natural resource management, Theresa Snow found herself working on a local Craftsbury farm, Pete's Greens. She liked her work, was proud of what they'd accomplished and had a good relationship with her boss. But it just wasn't enough.

Sterling College prides itself in a unique approach to learning that "combines structured academic study with experiential challenges and plain hard work to build responsible problem-solvers who become stewards of the environment as they pursue productive lives." Sterling alums like Snow have been taught to critically examine situations and find practical ways of improving them. With that background, Snow found herself thinking about how market forces affect small Vermont niche farms like Pete's — and she was dismayed at her conclusions. She discovered that far too often a lot of good, nutritious food goes to waste simply because it isn't aesthetically pleasing enough for the consumer market or economical to harvest.

Snow decided to bring up these concerns with her boss, Pete Johnson, and was pleased to find him very receptive. He even suggested that she search for a solution while continuing to work for him on the farm.

At this point, all Snow knew was that she had extra food and needed somewhere to take it. One of the first places she looked was the Vermont Foodbank — an organization that "secures large quantities of food and food-related products from commercial suppliers, concerned citizens, and other sources." After the product is examined and sorted, it is then offered to the food bank's member agencies in exchange for a low, per-pound "shared maintenance fee."

While Snow was excited about the Vermont Foodbank's desire for fresh, locally grown nutritious foods, she also knew there were plenty of needy agencies right in her own neighborhood. Soon enough, Snow had lined up a long list of donation sites with access to residents of three counties: Lamoille, Caledonia and Orleans.

That first summer, Snow knew she had a large task in front of her. She needed to identify the food, harvest it, sort it and transport it. For this she had to find some farming know-how and manpower, so she turned to her alma mater. Sterling students understand the concept of hard work — on any given day, they can be found preparing food in the dining hall, feeding animals on the farm, or tutoring students at a nearby elementary school.

Snow recruited 9 volunteers through Sterling's Farm Semester Program — an intensive summer experience of running the Sterling farm, which immerses students in the "daily rhythms and realities of organic and sustainable farming." One of the students was Jen O'Donnell.

O'Donnell was just entering the last year of her bachelor's degree in sustainable agriculture at Sterling. She was also in the process of choosing her senior applied research project, a requirement of all Sterling graduates. The senior research projects provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate mastery of skills taught in the core curriculum at Sterling College ? "skills such as investigating a question or problem, organizing their time effectively, utilizing appropriate resources on and off campus, and presenting their findings in a meaningful way." O'Donnell wanted a senior project that she could be passionate about, one that would continue after graduation. O'Donnell was looking for a project, Snow was looking for a partner,? and things just fell into place.

It was through this partnership that Salvation Farms was officially born, with the mission "to harvest excess farm produce, making it available to Vermonters in need." Since that time, Salvation Farms has fulfilled its mission by coordinating with farms and volunteer harvest crews, as well as arranging storage and distribution of donations. Snow and O'Donnell also formed a partnership with Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont to act as their fiscal sponsor and organizational advisor.

To fulfill their mission, Snow and O'Donnell reached out to volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, including many Sterling College students and faculty. These dedicated volunteers harvest, sort, and transport the food to their many donation sites.

In its first three years Salvation Farms harvested and donated a total of over 88,000 pounds of fresh food from Lamoille Valley farms to the Vermont Foodbank and many other recipient sites within the Lamoille Valley.



Going beyond salvaged food to develop community and educational programs

Now in its fourth year, Salvation Farms is a cost-free resource available to farmers and food sites. The network, which has become an official program of the Vermont Foodbank, provides volunteer crews for salvaging farm surplus and arranging storage and distribution of fresh food donations. Donation recipients consist of local emergency food sites, educational and caregiving institutions, retirement communities, nonprofit organizations, and the Vermont Foodbank.

The mission of the Vermont Foodbank is to gather and share quality food and nurture partnerships that will end hunger in Vermont. A food bank is not a food shelf: A food bank secures food and food-related products from food manufacturers and distributors, concerned individuals, farmers and other sources. After the product is examined and sorted, it is offered to the Vermont Foodbank's network of partner agencies —? food shelves, soup kitchens, senior centers, shelters, and after school programs ?— for distribution to Vermonters in need.

In early 2008, Snow became the Vermont Foodbank's program director of agricultural resources. At this time Salvation Farms became a program of the Foodbank in an effort to strengthen Salvation Farms Lamoille Valley and take this gleaning model statewide.

The Vermont Foodbank has hired two field coordinators; one to maintain Lamoille Valley operations and one to start a Montpelier area Salvation Farms gleaning group.

Looking ahead to 2009, the Vermont Foodbank plans to hire more field coordinators to organize, lead and maintain gleaning groups through out the state. The Vermont Foodbank foresees that the amount of raw perishable food that can be secured on the local level will lead to a tremendous area of growth within their food procurement and distribution department. The Salvation Farms Gleaning Network is just one way that the Vermont Foodbank's new agricultural resources department is working to obtain Vermont grown foods.

But the salvaged food has been only part of their success. With two Sterling students on the job, Salvation Farms took on much more than its primary objective "to prevent excess produce from being wasted and to feed our neighbors." Its other major goals focus on community building and education. Snow and O'Donnell want to pass along what they have learned through Salvation Farms about the real need for fresh, healthy food in their community.

O'Donnell and Snow believe gleaning can and should happen everywhere. But they are also practical enough to know that they need smart growth. Rather than trying to transform every community in Vermont, they have focused on creating a sustainable and effective model in their own community. And they seem confident that others will catch on because, as they say, "it just makes sense."

This year alone, The Salvation Farms Gleaning Network has already secured roughly 60,000 pounds of Vermont grown produce. To find out more about the Vermont Foodbank's Salvation Farms gleaning network visit their Web site or contact Theresa Snow at 477-4114.



ON THE NET



Salvation Farms Gleaning Network

http://www.salvationfarms.org/



Vermont Foodbank

http://www.vtfoodbank.org/