On November 2, Greenfield Community College volunteers will take their commitment to civic engagement off campus and out to the field. GCC students, staff, and faculty will participate in a gleaning trip sponsored by GCC's Civic Engagement and Service Learning program on Sunday afternoon, November 2 to rescue food from area farms and bring it to those in need within the community. Gleaning is the gathering of produce after the harvest. Farmers are often unable to sell all of their produce, either because of imperfections or because they simply cannot harvest it all. Participants in this project will collect the excess produce and donate it to area food pantries including the GCC Food Pantry and Franklin County Community Meals Program through a community organization based in Springfield, Rachel's Table. Since 1992, Rachel's Table has been working to alleviate hunger and reduce food waste in Western Massachusetts. Alyce Stiles, Director of Workforce Development at GCC and also a Board member of Rachel's Table, will lead the November 2 event. Stiles said, "As THIS community's college, this gleaning trip is a wonderful way to give back to our community and help those who are in need of high quality, nutritious produce that is in our surrounding fields." Abrah Dresdale, Coordinator of GCC's Farm & Food Systems Program sees many benefits for GCC students participating in a gleaning event, regardless of their field of study. Dresdale said, "GCC students involved in gleaning as civic engagement get to share an experiential activity outside of the classroom. This is often a bonding experience for students that helps build the GCC community. They also get a close-up view of the waste in agricultural production. In the U.S., one-third of agricultural production goes to waste. Gleaning helps capture some of that food loss and divert it into the charitable food system. When GCC students, staff, and faculty go out into the fields or orchards and glean, they get to harvest the produce, weigh the boxes, see how many hundreds of pounds of food they've saved from rotting in the fields, and then take it to a food pantry. In the past, I've seen students put  produce they've gleaned on the food pantry shelves, then see people come into the pantry, take an apple picked by a GCC student off the shelf, and eat it. It is empowering and inspiring. So much of food production and distribution is out of the public view. People who participate in gleaning are able to connect the dots of how the food system works and become active participants in shaping the local food system." The November 2 gleaning trip, one of many programs sponsored by GCC's Civic Engagement and Service Learning program, is being advertised through social media and email. Students who have already signed up for the event include members of the GCC Student Senate and the GCC Student Veterans organization, VetNet. Commenting on civic engagement at GCC, Judy Raper, GCC's Director of Student Development, said: "Currently the program offers about two civic learning programs a month. They are strictly volunteer activities and students do not get credit. We have an ongoing relationship with Stone Soup Café in Greenfield and our students volunteer there on a monthly basis. Staff and faculty are always invited to these programs and at least one staff member is always present. We have a civic engagement advisory board which is a group of Franklin County partners we meet with twice a semester to get feedback regarding how we can meet community needs as it relates to service. We also encourage our partners to submit service and internship opportunities to our website." Jessica Harwood, Gleaning Coordinator for Rachel's Table, said, "We are looking forward to the GCC students harvesting and donating produce right in their own community in Franklin County. This is the eighth year of our gleaning program. During that time, we have engaged over 500 volunteers to harvest and donate over 70,000 pounds of produce to area agencies. Our volunteers include youth groups, school and college groups, church members, and community volunteers, ranging in age from 11 to seniors. We maintain an email list of people who are interested in volunteering."

For information about the November 2 GCC gleaning trip and GCC's Civic Engagement and Service Learning program, visit https://www.gcc.mass.edu/cesl/ or contact Judy Raper at (413) 775-1819 or . For information about Rachel's Table's gleaning program, visit www.rachelstablespringfield.org/gleaning.html or contact Jessica Harwood at .

By Mary McClintock, '82