MPP Arnott acknowledges work of Ontario Christian Gleaners – Speech
November 17, 2015 – Ontario Christian Gleaners
Ontario Hansard – 17-November2015
Mr. Ted Arnott: Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the House about a unique service organization which
channels Christian faith into action while seeking to feed a hungry world.
Each weekday morning, more than 50 volunteers at Ontario Christian Gleaners, located on Morrison Road in Cambridge, process and then dry 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of donated surplus and off-grade vegetables, apples and pears to make nutritious dehydrated soup mixes and fruit snacks for distribution in impoverished countries and refugee camps.
The soup mixes and fruit snacks are shipped and distributed by relief and development organizations,
which are able to ensure that they’re given to people in need, are committed to sustainability and
development, and combine a gospel message with humanitarian aid. Each three-pound bag of Gleaners’
soup mix makes 100 bowls of soup when it’s served in the Third World. They calculate that one hour of
volunteer service at Gleaners generates 146 food servings.
Gleaners has sent soup mixes and fruit snacks to help feed people in over 40 countries, including
Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Papua New Guinea,
the Philippines and Romania.
My friends Bill and Carol Baxter are amongst the hundreds of Gleaners volunteers who give generously
of their time and talents, knowing their efforts are making a direct, positive difference in the lives of
needy people abroad.
I join with the member for Cambridge to thank and commend Ontario growers and everyone involved
with Ontario Christian Gleaners for putting their faith to work to help feed the famished around the globe.