Perdue Foundation Grant Supports Society Of St Andrew Delmarva

Perdue Foundation $5,000 Grant Supports Society of St. Andrew Delmarva Gleaning Network

Perdue Farms, through the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, is awarding $5,000 to the Society of St. Andrew (SOSA) to support the Delmarva Gleaning Network, a nonprofit organization by which volunteers harvest fresh produce from farm fields to help combat food insecurity in the region.

The donation from Perdue’s charitable giving arm is part of the company’s Delivering Hope to Our Neighbors® outreach to improve quality of life and build strong communities.

Society of St. Andrew is the nation’s oldest gleaning organization, working at the farm level to provide produce to hungry families and prevent food waste, said Jean Siers, SoSA’s Delmarva regional director.

“We build relationships with local farmers and packing houses to rescue the good food that is left behind in fields and sorted out at the packing house,” she said. “We work with local volunteers to go into fields to gather produce left behind, and that produce goes directly from farm or packing house to local hunger agencies.”

In 2023, SoSA’s Delmarva Gleaning Network distributed more than 1.3 million pounds of food to more than 90 agencies across the Delmarva Peninsula and Maryland, Siers said.

The Perdue grant will help DGN lead more gleaning events, taking volunteers into the fields to harvest fresh produce that goes directly to local food organizations, Siers explained, adding that gleaning volunteers see the source of their food and learn how hunger can exist in their community.

Kim Nechay, executive director of the Perdue Foundation, said DGN also helps farmers because the food they raise won’t go to waste.

“This program rescues food and distributes it to food banks and local pantries for people in need on the Delmarva Peninsula,” she said. “Perdue is pleased to award this grant to Society of St. Andrew and the gleaning network.”