Bag sweet potatoes, help hungry

Anyone who wants to volunteer can help with bagging 40,000 of sweet potatoes on Dec. 12. Society of St. Andrew will distribute the potatoes to area food banks. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – What does a massive pile of 40,000 pounds of sweet potatoes look like? The answer will be clear this weekend at Asbury United Methodist Church.

Society of St. Andrew will stage a ‘Sweet Potato Drop’ and needs helpers to bag the vegetables for delivery to local food banks. On Dec. 12, volunteers will start working at 9 a.m. at Asbury, 980 Hughes Road.

Mary Lynn Botts, volunteer coordinator for Society of St. Andrew, asks volunteers to gather in Asbury’s parking lot at the corner of Hughes and Gillespie roads. “In case of inclement weather, we’ll relocate indoors at Madison County Farmers Market on Cook Ave. behind Krispy Kreme off North Memorial Parkway in Huntsville,” Botts said.

“This 40,000-pound load will provide 120,000 servings of healthy locally grown food,” Botts said. “Grab a friend and join us. Just bring your hands and a heart to help the hungry in our area; all ages welcomed.”

“Christmas is certainly a time we are all focused on giving; however, people are hungry year-round,” Botts said. “The drop is happening because Thanksgiving and Christmas are a very high-selling season for the sweet potato growers. When they have lots of orders, they process their potatoes and remove or cull ones that are not sellable.”

Surprisingly, grocery store managers reject a sweet potato that has the slightest curve. “This time of year is when the seconds or culls become available by the farmers,” Botts said.

Local organizations that will receive sweet potatoes include WAY-FM for food boxes, Inside-Out Ministries, Manna House, Downtown Rescue Mission, Boys and Girls Clubs, Limestone County Churches Involved (LCCI), Northwest Community Commissioner Bob Harrison’s Holiday Boxes and food pantries at Fellowship Presbyterian, Asbury and Madison Mission churches.

“I’ve reached out to agencies in the Shoals, Decatur, Hartselle and Scottsboro, so I expect potatoes will be on the plates of many families across Alabama this Christmas,” Botts said.

For questions about the potato drop, call Botts at 256-658-7555 or email to botts@knology.net. For information about Society of St. Andrew, visit endhunger.org.