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Local FFA students have fun while picking tomatoes for community's needy

By Lynn Hotaling
FFA student Heather Mull

Smoky Mountain FFA member Heather Mull was among 16 club members who participated in a gleaning project last week. Students picked a total of 2,375 pounds (95 boxes) of tomatoes, which were given to the Community Table in Sylva and Tsali Manor in Cherokee.

Sixteen Smoky Mountain High Future Farmers of America members demonstrated their club's purpose last Thursday by having fun while helping others.

The group participated in a gleaning project sponsored by the Swain/Jackson Farm Service Agency and the Society of St. Andrew.

Gleaning is a Biblical concept that puts people of all ages into the fields and orchards for three to four hours to pick the fruit and vegetables that remain after harvest.

For the local future farmers and first-time gleaners, that meant an afternoon spent picking tomatoes at Kent Cochran's Birdtown farm. The SMHS students gathered 95 boxes, a total of 2,375 pounds, of the versatile vegetable. Their harvest was donated to the Community Table in Sylva and Tsali Manor on the Cherokee Indian Reservation.

The FFA does several community service projects each year, said SMHS teacher agriculture teacher Bill Fouts, who further said his students were glad to help out.

"This was our first time to glean - it was the first I'd heard of it," Fouts said. "The kids did it to help the needy, for leadership development and because they enjoy outdoor activities."

FFA students Crystal Hoyle, squatting, Daniel Coward, left, and Andy Sutton

Crystal Hoyle, squatting, Daniel Coward, left, and Andy Sutton were among the 16 Smoky Mountain High FFA members who picked more than a ton of tomatoes during a gleaning project at Kent Cochran's Birdtown farm.

Smoky Mountain's FFA is a service-oriented club, Fouts said. They have "adopted" a highway - Old Settlement Road from Webster Baptist Church to N.C. 107 - and pick up trash along its shoulders in September and April. Last year club members cut firewood for community members who needed it, he said.

"(The gleaning project) was great. It's good to have kids show a caring spirit about needy people," said Fouts, who declared it a success. "We were pleased to have the opportunity to demonstrate the citizenship efforts FFA promotes."

"It was hard work, but it was a great experience and a fun time," said senior Haley Hampton. "I'd never picked so many tomatoes before."

Hampton said she liked knowing she was working to help other people and enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with her fellow club members. The students instigated a friendly competition to see who could pick the most tomatoes, and that made it even more fun, she said.

"I was careful because I knew the tomatoes were going to people who really needed them," she said. "I made sure I picked the kind of tomatoes I'd want to eat."

Other students echoed Hampton.

"It was a neat idea," said junior Andy Sutton of the community service project. "We picked the tomatoes and donated them to good causes. That's what FFA is all about - having fun and helping people."

"It was something to do that helped people out at the same time," said junior Michael Putman of his afternoon in the tomato patch. "We picked a lot of tomatoes that otherwise would have gone to waste."

After his gleaning experience, though, Putman said he "didn't want to see another tomato for awhile."

Fouts and SMHS horticulture teacher Nikki Yount are planning a field trip to let their classes continue the gleaning effort.

Local FFA members who helped with last week's effort, in addition to Hampton, Sutton and Putman, were Desiree Hoyle, Beth McCoy, Tyler Melton, Daniel Coward, Heather Mull, Misty Gregory, Kayla Painter, Michelle Elders, Cassie Kirkland, Stephanie Ashe, Crystal Hoyle, Joseph Woodring and Joe McCoy.

Gleaning projects are increasing each year, said a Society of St. Andrew spokesman. Almost 20 percent of all food produced in the United States for human consumption is lost annually.

"If it is not profitable to harvest, it is usually plowed under or left to rot," said the society spokesman. The gleaning network is expanding "as more growers catch a vision of a world without hunger, and more gleaners work to make this vision a reality."

Gleaners can be any age and are often groups from churches, schools and clubs.

The local gleaning effort was a joint one by the SMHS FFA and their counterparts at Swain County High. It was made possible through the generosity of growers Cochran and Jeff Darnell of Darnell Farms near Governor's Island, said Becky Wilson of the Farm Service Agency.

Volunteers who assisted with the effort included Dick Sellers of Sylva and Ralph Hyatt, Joe Thomas and Jean Brown of Swain County. Food and drinks for the gleaners were donated by Jeff Bell of Triple B in Sylva, Papa's Pizza of Bryson City and Kim Armstrong of the Watering Trough in Bryson City.

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