Fresh Food for Everyone: Ruth’s Gleanings 10th Anniversary

By: Ledger Wham, Guest Contributor
ledgerwham@gmail.com

Local organization, Ruth’s Gleanings, is celebrating its ten-year anniversary of making fresh and healthy food more accessible. Ruth’s Gleanings is a local Spartanburg organization that aims at addressing food scarcity and hunger in the community.

Established in 2016, Ruth’s Gleanings also focuses on addressing nutritional deficiencies in Spartanburg. The organization prioritizes the distribution of fresh, healthy foods not only to keep people fed, but also to keep them healthy.

Ruth’s Gleanings helps support local food distribution organizations to assist those in need. The Spartanburg community needs programs like Ruth’s Gleanings now more than ever. The Ruth’s Gleanings website states that 64% of Spartanburg homes have low food security, 32% have very low food security, and 32% of children have low or very low food security. Ruth’s Gleanings has been helping the Spartanburg area through its gleanings and food share programs.

Gleaning Program Helps Reduce Food Waste

The gleaning program is a process of reclaiming and redistributing food to the local community. The program reclaims fresh and perishable food that would otherwise be discarded from establishments such as farmers’ markets, cafeterias, restaurants, and more. This reclaimed food is then processed by Ruth’s Gleanings volunteers and redistributed to partner organizations, such as food banks and soup kitchens.

Affordable Fresh Produce Through FoodShare Program

Ruth’s Gleanings has also partnered with the FoodShare South Carolina branch in Spartanburg. This program aims to provide a variety of fresh foods at an affordable price. Ruth’s Gleanings purchases and packages fresh, local foods for distribution.

Each box contains fifteen to twenty pounds of fresh produce. These boxes are available for purchase bi-weekly and can be ordered over the phone at 864-586-2840, in person at Ruth’s Gleanings, located at 147 Chapel Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303, or at the Thomas Hannah YMCA front desk. Boxes are twenty dollars cash or five dollars if using a SNAP card.

How to Support Ruth’s Gleanings

You can support Ruth’s Gleanings by volunteering and donating funds or food. To volunteer, send an interest email to volunteer@ruthsgleanings.com. To find out more about the food donation process, send an email to gleanings@ruthsgleanings.com.