Help Society of St. Andrew, West

SoSA West needs your help to continue its work of saving produce from going to waste and feeding hungry people across the country.

Monetary Donations

> To Donate

SoSA West depends on donations from churches, individuals, and foundations to sustain our programs. We operate with a firm belief in good stewardship. No less than 90% of our total income is directly invested into packaging and transporting produce, so your donations go directly into feeding people in need. Furthermore, we don’t waste money duplicating efforts and processes already in place in food banks and agencies. Instead, we seek to increase efficiencies by partnering with them to provide wholesome, nutritious food to those in need.

Produce Donations

The western headquarters of Society of St. Andrew seeks to partner with farmers, growers, packers, wholesalers, truckers/transportation firms, and other produce handlers across the western United States to turn excess, graded-out or rejected produce into nutritious, healthy meals for millions of impoverished Americans. We track all donations, and at the end of each year, we provide each donor with an itemized report listing all donations they made that year for tax purposes.

Potato and Produce Project

Through our Potato and Produce Project, we work with large donations of excess or graded-out produce that we deliver by the tractor trailer load directly to food banks capable of their distribution. We also provide this produce to churches that organize Produce Drops, providing a drop site, and volunteers to package and deliver the food to food banks, pantries, and other feeding agencies as part of their community outreach programs.

Reject Loads

SoSA works with transport companies and truckers in the continental United States to salvage produce rejected at the point of sale. This means that if you have a full or partial load of fresh produce anywhere in the continental U.S. that has been rejected for cosmetic reasons (not for bacterial contamination), you can call 816-921-0856 and we will work with you to find a place the truck can donate that produce, to avoid dumping fees and help to feed people in need in that area. We track all donations, and at the end of each year, we provide each donor with an itemized report listing all donations they made that year for tax purposes.

Gleaning Network

Farmers and growers can also participate in our Gleaning Network by donating their fields and orchards after their harvest. This allows SoSA volunteers to come in and glean what’s left by the harvesting equipment or workers.
 

Volunteers

> To Volunteer

Across America, 25-30 thousand people volunteer to glean for SoSA every year. From apples and blueberries, to squash and pumpkins, SoSA volunteers glean every fruit and vegetable grown in the United States. We do backyard gleanings of fruit trees, orchard and field gleanings – wherever food is grown, we will glean. SoSA volunteers also work Potato Drops, packaging and transporting potatoes and other produce “dropped” in their church parking lots. Additionally, SoSA West is looking into new ways to partner with area farmers that will provide volunteer opportunities throughout the growing season and give us the opportunity to obtain some of the harvest as well as the gleaned crops. There are volunteer opportunities in the office at SoSA West as well. We appreciate all volunteers. Just call our office at 816-921-0856 or fill out our form.