Ellsworth American advances Maine Gleaning Week

The Ellsworth American reported Healthy Acadia and the Maine Gleaning Network have announced the inaugural Maine Gleaning Week, Oct. 7–16. The week will feature a collection of gleaning events — farm surplus rescue efforts that will gather crops and food that might otherwise be left in the fields or go to waste — from farms, community gardens, and farmers markets, according to the article. The Maine Gleaning Network, formed in 2015 as part of Healthy Acadia’s Downeast Gleaning Initiative, provides technical assistance to emerging gleaning organizations and community groups around the state. The network is supported by the Quimby Foundation and Harvard Pilgrim Health Foundation, in partnership with Healthy Acadia, Good Shepherd Food Bank, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Food Recovery Coalition and the Maine Network of Community Food Councils, the article states. Maine Gleaning Week and UMaine Extension also were mentioned in a Portland Press Herald feature article on Kayla Blindert, gleaning coordinator of the Cumberland County Food Security Council.