BY ANGELA ZUMWALT

Special to The Pilot

October was designated as "Hunger Awareness Month."

Brownson Memorial Church in Southern Pines has embraced the concept of "gleaning" to help make a difference in the Sandhills area.

On Oct. 15, a team of 39 gleaners, ranging in age from 5 to older than 80, made their way from Brownson Church in Southern Pines to a sweet potato field in nearby Cameron, owned by Chester and Kathy Pilson.

After a rigorous three-hour effort, "gleaning," a practice mentioned often in the Bible as a means to provide for the poor and hungry, produced some sweet present-day results.

The team filled large boxes with 3,010 pounds of sweet potatoes.

The team began picking around 9 a.m. The Sandhills Food Bank sent its truck and driver, Bobby, who had the harvest back to their warehouse by 12:30 p.m.

Through the Food Bank, the Coalition and other agencies were able to provide their clients with this freshly picked seasonal vegetable. Fresh vegetables are always a welcome change for those families who rely on local agencies.

The sweet potatoes were sitting in the field on the Saturday morning, picked by Saturday afternoon, and all distributed by Wednesday.

A "Weirdest Sweet Potato Contest" was one of the highlights of the event. Potato "contestants" were displayed at Brownson the next day and drew quite a crowd.

The event was organized by Brownson in collaboration with the Society of St. Andrew, Virginia.

The Society of St. Andrew website, endhunger.org, states, "Hunger is a complex and many-faceted tragedy that holds a large part of the world's family in bondage. Because of the scope of hunger, many of us feel there is nothing that one person can do. We think the tragedy is too massive for one person's action to be effective. Such is not the case. Each of us can make an impact on behalf of our hungry brothers and sisters."

Brownson has established a permanent gleaning ministry designed to respond quickly to gleaning opportunities in the area and to help alleviate hunger.

Information on past and future trips can be found on the church website, brownsonchurch.org, under "Ministries."