Thousands of pounds of potatoes put to good use | Community Spirit

Volunteers from Old North United Methodist Church and Central United Methodist Church distributed nearly 40,000 pounds of potatoes to local food agencies over the weekend.

The third annual ‘Potato Drop’ puts unmarketable potatoes to good use.

The truck arrived in Evansville early Saturday morning from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, full of potatoes that aren’t the right size or have slight blemishes and can’t be used commercially.

They were donated by a farmer in Wisconsin to the Society of St. Andrew.

Twenty six volunteers distributed the potatoes to 27 local food agencies and individuals.  They are expected to help feed over 169 local families.

Staff from Berry Plastics volunteered to unload the truck, Equipment Depot donated  the use of a forklift andM & M Auto Service, Zeimer Funeral Home, Schultheis Insurance, Mulzer Crushed Stone, Berger and Berger, American Sanitary Supply, Columbia Health Care and ProRehab helped with money and volunteers that helped get the potatoes where they needed to go in under three hours.   

This is the third year Old North UMC and Central UMC has organized the Potato Drop resulting in over 127,000 pounds of potatoes distributed to the Evansville area.  These two churches hope to make this an annual event; however, it depends on funding and the availability of potatoes.

For more information about the Evansville Potato Drop, or to make a donation toward the transportation and packaging costs that range from $3,500 to $4,500 per truckload, send an e-mail to evansvillepotatodrop@gmail.com.

For more information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger relief programs call 800-333-4597, e-mail sosainfo@endhunger.org, or go online to www.endhunger.org.