Gleaners put their backs into feeding county's hungry
Part one of a three-part series
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorncom

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers RIPE 'N READY- Above, orchard owner Kevin Cannon of Camarillo picks oranges from the citrus trees that line his 6-acre avocado ranch which overlooks the Santa Rosa Valley. Cannon has maintained the citrus trees over the last eight years for FOOD Share volunteers to pick so that Ventura County's largest food bank can help feed the undernourished and hungry.

A dozen people in worn clothes load up into trucks and ride down a dusty, serpentine road to an orchard at the bottom of a hill in an unincorporated county area between Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark.

They climb out, scurry up ladders and begin picking oranges from the trees and loading them into buckets. The sight is a common one in agricultural Ventura County, but these workers aren't the typical field hands. They're Caucasian and older; many have gray hair.

These are gleaners- volunteers with FOOD Share who are allowed by farmers to pick the fruits and vegetables left over from a harvest. Gleaning is the cornerstone of the Oxnard-based food bank that for 30 years has distributed food and other essentials to thousands of the county's hungry and undernourished.

Jayson Muelder, FOOD Share operations manager, said that they feed an average of 38,000 county residents every month through some 150 partner agencies.

The number of hungry individuals in Ventura County rises every year, Muelder said. And they're seeing the largest increase among the working poor- working, single mothers who have a couple of children and families with both parents working but earning low wages- who are often faced with the choice of paying the rent and utilities or buying food, he said.

"Usually food is at the bot- tom of the list," Muelder said.

Andy Murphy oversees FOOD Share's gleaning program. He calls on about 20 gleaners from across the county to go out an average of three days a week into vegetable farms and avocado and fruit orchards. Many gleaners are retirees, he said.

"If there were no volunteers there would be no FOOD Share," Murphy said. "This whole organization is based on volunteers."

Nancy Ennis of Camarillo would grieve over the wasted food she saw rotting in the fields after a harvest.

After her husband, Chris, retired as a Los Angeles firefighter, the couple decided to do something about it by volunteering with FOOD Share. Nancy spends about three hours a week as a gleaner while Chris spends some five hours a week working in the warehouse.

"We're very fortunate and comfortable in retirement," Nancy Ennis, 60, said. "We thought it would be a wonderful way to give back to the community. . . . We're just thrilled."

She said her fellow gleaners inspire and amaze her because, though many are in their 70s and 80s, they show up faithfully to work in the fields and orchards.

Bob Lewis, an 87yearold retired grocery store worker, has been a FOOD Share gleaner for 23 years. His loyalty earned him Lifetime Member status with the agency.

"It's a good thing to do," Lewis said.

For 13 years, Joe Birg of Thousand Oaks has picked for FOOD Share nearly everything that grows on a tree or in a field in Ventura County.

He said he does the work not only to help feed the hungry but because he enjoys the exercise and socializing with the other volunteers.

"It's fun, too," the 75-year-old retired aerospace worker said.

Kevin Cannon opened his grove of citrus trees to FOOD Share gleaners about eight years ago.

Although he makes a living growing avocados on his hilltop 6acre spread which overlooks the Santa Rosa Valley, the dozen or so orange trees on his property yield too much fruit for his family of four and would rot if left untouched.

And while water is his biggest expense, he absorbs the cost of maintaining the trees for FOOD Share's use.

"I look at it as my contribution to charity," said Cannon, 51, taking a break from helping gleaners pick his oranges.