Kalamazoo Valley Gleaners turns imperfect produce into meals and reduces food waste

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Each day, 25,000 people on this planet, including more than 10,000 children, will die from hunger related causes, according to the United Nations.

It’s why two West Michigan couples co-founded the new non-profit Kalamazoo Valley Gleaners, which after a year of renovations officially opened up this month.

It starts with what some would call an ugly potato – and 24,000 pounds were recently donated to Kalamazoo Valley Gleaners by West Michigan farmers.

This massive operation located off King Highway is the retirement dream of Jim Van Tuinen.

“We are ecstatic to be in production,” Van Tuinen told News Channel 3.

Van Tuinen’s a Kalamazoo resident who wanted to feed the hungry and reduce food waste.

“The farmers embrace what we are doing fondly, they are just too happy to give us their cosmetically imperfect surplus vegetables. They know how much gets wasted, and they are happy to let us take it and feed the world with it,” Van Tuinen said.

According to Van Tuinen, up to 40% of produce grown in North America never makes it to the table. But now, his team of 50 volunteers is working to change that, one vegetable at a time.

“One of the things very important to us is to promote a sense of community. We are a distinctly Christian faith-based organization here to glorify God,” Van Tuinen said.

The first, simple step to do that, according to Van Tuinen, is to wash the donated veggies.

Then, they’re sent down the conveyor so defects can be trimmed.

“There’s tasks that can be done in this building by special needs people, we are hoping to get school children, retirees,” Van Tuinen said.

That includes John Buttery, who volunteers at Kalamazoo Valley Gleaners four days a week.

“It’s addictive, you can’t not show up,” Buttery said.

Buttery is a retired realtor who told News Channel 3 the hours he puts in gives him purpose and friendship.

“The camaraderie here – terrific! Just wonderful people who have the same goal,” Buttery said.

Once the produce is trimmed, it’s sent to the chopping room where machines can chop 13,000 pounds an hour.

Then, the pieces are put on trays and loaded onto carts.

The heart of the operation – the dehydrator.

About 30 carts will go into the dehydrator, which equals about a 1,000 pounds. After ten hours, everything will be dehydrated into about 100 pounds of potatoes.

The final stage of the operation is where the product is packaged.

Each month, about 2,000 boxes of dehydrated produce will be distributed to refugee camps, schools, missions and orphanages in 26 countries by West Michigan relief agency partners.

According to Van Tuinen, Kalamazoo Valley Gleaners is just one of three gleaning operations in the United States.

His goal is to hop in an RV and spread the “gleaner gospel” to other cities.

If you’d like to donate or volunteer, click here.

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