Gleaning to feed the poor outside Philly

WESTTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Compelled by conscience and a single sentence from the Bible, 30 women and children swarm a lush Chester County field and rip ripe ears of corn off graceful 7-foot stalks.

Leviticus 23:22 is their guide:

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien.”

Following the Christian practice of gleaning — gathering crops for the poor — the earnest group from Meadowcroft Presbyterian Church in West Chester takes only an hour to collect around 1,000 ears of corn from the Westtown field, cultivated specifically for the gleaners by nearby Pete’s Produce farm market.

High prices and lower-than-normal supplies in food banks have made this a particularly hungry summer for the poor and working poor in the Philadelphia region, experts say. Activities like gleaning help fill the gap.

The corn collected, it is loaded onto a truck that rides on winding roads past opulent homes. The truck eventually pulls into Cares Food Network, a food distribution center in one of the less tony precincts of West Chester.

Ninety minutes after the gleaning, Cares workers distribute bags of corn to clients, including Holly Johnson, 29, who makes $7.80 an hour at a pet store and struggles to feed her 4-year-old son.

“It’s depressing to be hungry, actually — and embarrassing,” Johnson says. “It’s tough in West Chester.”