Gleaners pluck 350 pounds of vegetables for food bank

Brush Prairie — Volunteers with two local nonprofit groups harvested 350 pounds of surplus root vegetables for the community’s hungry. In early December, volunteers with Urban Abundance, which works on sustainable food systems, and Clark County Food Bank, which aims to feed the hungry, got together to glean surplus rutabagas, parsnips, carrots and leeks at Purple Rain Vineyard in Brush Prairie. Purple Rain is an organic 10-acre community-supported farm run by Luisa DePaiva and James Voisin. The fruits of the volunteers’ labor went to the St. Vincent De Paul food pantry in Brush Prairie. Future gleaning harvests will be delivered to the new Clark County Food Bank, the groups said. Urban Abundance is working on building its network of gleaners, growers and food pantries to make sure good surplus food doesn’t go to waste.