Vince Petrie, a Neighborhood Harvest Leader
Vince started volunteering with GleanSLO at the beginning of 2013. At that time he fearlessly approached many of his neighbors to ask if they’d like to donate their excess fruit. This is when we had some of our FIRST Neighborhood-wide Collections! Now Vince is a seasoned Neighborhood Harvest Leader. Thanks for all or your great ideas, Vince! Keep ’em coming!
1. Why are you interested in gleaning?
I’m a scrounger by nature. I like to take things that other people don’t want and find a use for them, giving them a second life. Before I found GleanSLO, as I would walk around my neighborhood I was bothered by all the fruit that was falling on the ground and rotting. I thought that there must be a way to save this fruit. I thought about starting a neighborhood produce exchange. That was just about the time I found out about GleanSLO. So I called them and volunteered.
I saw a GleanSLO flyer somewhere, can’t remember where. So I called the number on the flyer and took it from there.
My favorite part is participating in a group activity with others who share my enthusiasm for the task at hand. I tend to be more of a loner, not fond of team or group activities. But I’ve found that gleaning is an exception for me.
Gleaning gives me great satisfaction, and here’s why. The corporate food industry has made it its mission to sell us cheap, unhealthy food (or food-like products) that maximize their profits, while paying lip service to our health. Meanwhile, they demand and get government subsidies from self-serving politicians. When I glean, I’m helping to provide healthy food, at no cost, to people who need it but can’t afford grocery store prices. Gleaning completely bypasses corporations and government while contributing to the betterment of our community. That makes me very happy.