Serving as a gleaning associate, Aleina spends a lot of her time interacting with donors. The donors she meets are usually local farmers, or everyday people who grow on their residences. Other’s donate their crops and grow with the intention to give it to the foodbank. These people are all so generous and have a lot of work on their hands. Somehow, they are able to make an effort to get their excess produce to people who need it.
A gleaner’s job is to rescue produce from going to waste. Often, Aleina meets one of the Gleaning programs’ regular donors at the Washington Corrections Center. Hope Gardens is an inmate-run garden that cultivates its crop just to give to the neighboring communities. Aleina is met directly from the fields by a forklift driver who carries pallets full of greens, being harvested minutes earlier. In another glean they go to local homes where fruit is ripe for the picking. Out the gleaners go with their pickers and ladders ready to bring back apples. Some other regular donors to the foodbank include Kirsop, Common Grounds, and Helsing Junction Farms.