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Harvest Program helps families nationwide
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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Joe Bezilla, general manager of Olive Garden, packed up food the restaurant prepared for the Harvest Program.
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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.The Big Reach Center of Hope truck drives all around The Valley picking up donations for the Harvest Program. Pictured are, from left, Joe Bezilla, Steve Sanders, Missy Rondeau and Doug Gough.
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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Joe Bezilla, general manager of Olive Garden, poured sauce into a bag to prep for the Harvest Program.
By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI
The Boardman Olive Garden and the Big Reach Center of Hope have been working together for several years to help bring happiness to the community.
The Harvest Program started in 2003 and every Olive Garden restaurant, nationwide, participates. Olive Garden has donate more than 35 million pounds of food, nationwide, to families in need. The program is one that occurs all year round to help out families.
More than 50,000 people at the Big Reach have been helped by this program. Doug Gough, director of the Harvest Program at Greenford, explained that this was a good way to help people in the community and make friendships.
“We want to do things that make impact and this program makes tremendous impact,” said Gough. “It helps people get over some of the bumps in the road.”
Families come once a month for distribution, but there are two distributions a month to accommodate the needs of multiple families. There are several restaurants, delis, bakeries and grocery stores who partner with the Big Reach Center of Hope to help provide a variety of items for the distributions.
Joe Bezilla, General Manager at Olive Garden, said his team of staff members are always willing and happy to participate in the program. The staff members have formed a friendship with driver, Steve Sanders, who has been coming twice a week for the last six years to pick up the food. During orientation for new hires, Bezilla makes sure to talk about the Harvest Program and always receives a positive reaction from the new hires.
“Seeing what it does for the people far outweighs the cost,” said Bezilla. “I love the fact that it’s something that we do.”
Gough said they encourage the families who receive food to volunteer their time in the community as a way of giving back. This creates a full circle of people trying to help each other out and making the community a better place.
“It blesses my heart to know that I can do some kind of good to get food out to other people,” said Sanders. “It’s something all of our volunteers love to do.”