On a warm, breezy September morning, as summer gave way to fall, over 60 volunteers from the Greater Chicago Food Depository gathered at Origer Farms in Marengo, Illinois, for our annual sweet corn harvest.
By 7 a.m., the volunteers were already hard at work, harvesting row after row of sweet corn, which would soon be delivered to partner food pantries throughout Chicago and Cook County.
Among them was Lucy Martinez, 77, who attended the sweet corn harvest for the first time this year. “It’s beautiful to see so many people who are here because they want to do something for others,” she said.
“This is a great opportunity for people to slow down and enjoy nature, but also to harvest this corn and bring it to people who maybe wouldn’t be able to access it otherwise.”
None of this work would have been possible without the generous sweet corn donation from Jim Origer and the Growing Initiative. Amid the recession of 2008, Origer wanted to find a way to donate produce from his family farm to people who were experiencing food insecurity.
After visiting local food banks and learning about the need, Origer founded the Growing Initiative in 2010 to plant and harvest crops to donate to local food banks, including the Food Depository.
Every year, volunteers from the Food Depository and Northern Illinois Food Bank travel to Origer’s family farm to harvest the few acres of sweet corn he plants specifically to donate. Within days the corn is delivered to the food banks and from there to partner food pantries, where neighbors are able to select the fresh, seasonal produce.
Another volunteer who attended this year’s harvest was Ricky Trevil, who has been lending his time to the Food Depository since 2020. He was inspired to get involved after watching a news segment on TV about heightened food insecurity rates in Chicago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I learned about how big a problem food insecurity was during the pandemic, and I just felt like I had to help,” Trevil explained. “I’ve been volunteering regularly ever since.”
Over the past four years, he’s volunteered more than 250 hours with the Food Depository and has returned to the corn harvest for the last three years. “It feels great to get out here and be a part of this experience with my fellow volunteers,” he shared.
“At the end of the day, you feel accomplished, and you know it’s going to a good cause.”
In addition to this harvest, the Food Depository receives sweet corn every summer from several Illinois farmers who plant, grow and donate crops specifically to help end hunger.
Farmers like Jim Rapp of Rapp Farms partner with the Agri Heritage Foundation, which has organized the Sweet Corn for Charity program for the past 16 years. Rapp, who has been donating to the program for 11 years, has a lifelong love of sweet corn and is committed to using his harvests to help feed those in need.
By the end of this year’s sweet corn harvest at Origer Farms, volunteers had packed an impressive 32,525 pounds of sweet corn – enough to provide the equivalent of around 27,104 meals – into Food Depository and Northern Illinois Food Bank trucks.
From there, the corn was transported to our warehouse, where more volunteers sorted and repacked it into family-sized servings and it was delivered to our partner food pantries throughout Chicago and Cook County.
“There is no greater gift than to be in service of another,” said Origer. “The Growing Initiative is about giving all these great volunteers an opportunity to be connected with the land while also being in the service of another."
"It is the volunteers that come out to pick the corn that are the angels in this program.”
The Food Depository is grateful for the farmers and volunteers who work to ensure our neighbors have access to needed nourishment – and this sweet, seasonal treat.
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