In the Spring of 1978 Reverend
Ken and Jean Horne, Reverend Ray
and Marian Buchanan, and
Reverend Jeff and Susan Allen,
and their families, began
praying daily for God’s guidance
in beginning a shared ministry.
Out of this period of
intentional prayer a plan for an
intentional Christian community
dedicated to helping resolve the
problem of world hunger
was
developed. This plan was
presented to Bishop Kenneth
Goodson of the Virginia Annual
Conference of
The United Methodist
Church in the Spring of 1979.
Bishop Goodson appointed Ken and
Ray to a "special appointment
beyond the local church" so they
could found The Society of St.
Andrew in Big Island, Virginia.
On June 8, 1979 Ken and Jean
Horne and Ray and Marian
Buchanan, and their
five children,
moved into a farmhouse in
Bedford County, Virginia. Their
goal was to live in Christian
community in order to model a
lifestyle of Christian
responsibility.
From 1979-1982 the Horne and
Buchanan families shared all
things in common as they modeled
a simple lifestyle that rejected
consumerism. They grew their own
vegetables and raised sheep,
chickens, and rabbits, etc. At
the same time, Ray and Ken led
workshops on responsible
lifestyles and hunger issues.
By October, 1982 the two
families had learned that the
“simple lifestyle” was not so
simple.
Growing children made for very
cramped quarters, so the Hornes moved from
the farm to a home in Bedford,
Virginia. While Ken and Ray
continued to lead workshops,
they began to consider taking
regular church appointments
again. However, at a hunger
awareness workshop they
led at Franktown United
Methodist Church on the Eastern
Shore of Virginia, a farmer
named Butch Nottingham
questioned Ken and Ray about the
facts they presented regarding
food waste. From the discussion
that followed, the Potato and
Produce Project was born. On
June 3, 1983 George Wooten of W.
E. Bailey Produce, Chadbourn,
NC, donated a tractor-trailer
load of sweet potatoes to the
Society of St. Andrew. This
first load of salvaged sweet
potatoes was delivered to the
Central Virginia Food Bank in
Richmond.
Since that first load in 1983
the Society of St. Andrew’s
Potato and Produce Project has distributed
well over
500 million
pounds of food to America’s
hungry.
Originally the ministry
operated out of a converted
sheepshed on the farm in Big
Island. A new building was
constructed in 1990 to house the
growing ministry. Also in 1990,
as an offshoot of the Potato and Produce Project, The Society of St.
Andrew began the Seed Potato
Project to offer a hand-up to
impoverished communities who
wish to grow their own produce.
In 1985 the Society of St.
Andrew launched Harvest of Hope,
a gleaning and study camp for
youth. The first event was held
at Camp Occahannock-on-the-Bay,
on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, and
was led by Rev. Rhonda VanDyke
Colby. A major component of
Harvest of Hope is field
gleaning. As more and more
people became exposed to
gleaning, they wanted to
introduce it to their own
churches. As a result, the
Gleaning
Network was established
in Virginia in 1988. Since then,
gleaning has expanded
dramatically.
Beginning in
1992 the
Society of St. Andrew has
expanded into other states in
the form of Regional Offices and
gleaning ministries.
|
