Prior Editions
October 20, 2005
Missions
Minute - The Potato Project
Welcome to the third week of Missions Month at Christ UMC. Each week
this month, we are highlighting one missionary or ministry through the
Mid-Week Musings. Below is an update on the Potato Project which is
run by the Society of St. Andrew. As you read the update, please remember
the Potato Project in prayer as they distribute food to the hungry and
hope to the lost.
Tractor-trailer loads of potatoes and other produce are
often rejected by commercial markets or potato chip factories due to
slight imperfections in size, shape, sugar content, or surface blemishes.
Usually,
these rejected loads end up at local land fills. Through the Potato
Project, however, the Society of St. Andrew is able to redirect
these 45,000-pound loads of fresh, nutritious produce to soup kitchens,
Native American reservations, food pantries, low income housing areas,
local churches, and other hunger agencies for distribution to the poor.
Since
this produce is donated, the Society of St. Andrew only pays for the
transportation and packaging of the food an amazingly low four cents
per pound! That means we can provide food to the nation's hungry
for about a penny per serving!
The
Potato Project delivers about 20 million pounds of food per year to
the nation's hungry each year.
The Potato Project is successful and extremely cost effective for
two simple reasons:
- First,
the food we receive is donated. This food is not marketable
for cosmetic reasons, but is perfectly edible. We do not buy
the food we distribute. Our costs are for the transportation
and packaging of the food we receive.
- Second,
we operate in conjunction with existing food distribution
organizations such as food banks. We avoid duplication of
effort in order to gain efficiency and cut costs.
The
Potato Project and the Society of St. Andrew are ministry partners of the
General Commission on United Methodist Men.
Mid-Week
Musings
An
Occasional bulletin from Christ United Methodist Church