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Mika is an AmeriCorps member serving in the Harvest VISTA Program focused on the sustainable agriculture and food programs. She is serving at the Blue Mountain Action Council as the Community Food Systems VISTA Coordinator in Walla Walla, Washington. Her service will help bring new relations for the BMAC food bank to bring fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy products from local farms to low-income communities. Her goal is to help alleviate poverty in the 5 surrounding counties by creating a lasting system to expand the organizational outreach through building networks and coordinating gleans.

The AmeriCorps member at BMAC Food Bank was able to coordinate the first gleaning activity of the season with a local U-pick cherry orchard. It all started when she got a call from Kelee, the orchard owner, a week prior about a gleaning opportunity since the U-pick cherry season for the public is coming to an end. The short time period was a bit challenging to round up volunteers last minute but she started to reach out to volunteers via social media, emails, and posted on Volgistics. The response rate was slow and lots of people already had plans for the weekend. Luckily, she was very thrilled to see the turnout of volunteers on the day of after being worried for not having a confirmed number of volunteers for the gleaning event.

On a beautiful Sunday morning in June, 8 volunteers gathered at Gem Orchard, located on top of a hill that overlooks the Columbia River Gorge. The volunteers consisted of other members from the food bank, Whitman College Glean team, friends, and family. Together, the group was able to harvest 138 lbs of Bing cherries for the food bank! The cherries would later then be distributed to nearby pantries, where fresh produce is always in high demand.

Overall, it was a successful first glean and BMAC hopes to have more gleaning events as this in the continuing produce season. These gleaning events are crucial to reduce food waste, to promote community engagement, and to keep great relations with local vendors.