Gleanings for the Hungry...

Gleanings...Gleanings...the word no longer means what it was meant to. Instead of meaning "to come behind the reapers and collect the fallen grain", to many of peers, it really means a week in sunny CA, hard work, rotten peaches, and heat well up into the 100's.

Down in Dinuba, California, there exists a small compound composed of several buildings, a processing plant, and several LARGE drying fields. All around are the "large hills" of California and many, many fruit farms. This small compound is known as Gleanings for the Hungry.

Okay, so what do they do? Their mission is simple. Every year thousands - perhaps millions - of pounds of fruit is wasted because they are either close enough to ripe that they would be rotten by the time they could be sold or because they are too small or because they are simply deformed looking. Gleanings takes this fruit (donated by the growers in the area), slices it, drys it, and packs it in buckets to be sent to third-world countries where the majority of people are hungry for most of their lives. There, their missionaries distribute the fruit to the people and, at the same time, plant the seed of Truth in their hearts.

The problem is, Gleanings is a non-profit organization. They don't have the money to pay people to come run the plant for them. Therefore churches from all over the place send teams down there every summer to process the fruit. My church is one of these.

Now, of course, you have to pay your room and board, as well as your share of the gas it takes to get down there. This usually rounds up to about $200, counting souvenirs and the food on the trip.

My friends and I get the chance to pay only $200 to have a week-long vacation in beautiful California...spending over 8 hours a day working your hands off in rotten peaches and sweating out more liquids than you ever knew your body contained. Who wouldn't jump at the offer? The truth is, we love it. It's a great growing experience, it gives you a better work ethic, you get to spend a LOT of time (sometimes more than you like) with your fiends...er, friends. There's a swimming pool and a cafeteria with what has got to be the best food ever. And you get to sleep in a dorm room and see exactly how messy your pals really are.

But best of all, you get to spend quality time with your Lord and Savior, in prayer and in worship.Nothing can express the amazing power that this trip can be. Please pray for this year's trip, from August 27th to September 4th.