THE GLEANERS

Based on the Biblical principal in which God commanded farmers to allow the poor to gather food from the fields already harvested, the OCG uses this principal to share with love and compassion out of our surplus to those in need. OCG has distributed the dried soup mix to reputable organizations in 26 countries around the world including the Dominican Republic.
A Mission team arrived this winter with 30 bags of soup mix (each one serves 100 portions) to be distributed through the feeding program in villa Ascension with Jim & Sue Coates. Having personally served the soup to the children and the elderly…it piqued our interest to see where exactly it came from. Located in Cambridge, only 30 minutes from our hometown of Hamilton, the opportunity to see the OCG in action was taken and we stood amazed at their operation and dedication. Since the construction of their plant in 2008, this ministry is a thriving operation and a daily social event 5 days a week with the help of their dedicated volunteers who wash and prepare the food. The dicer machine chops the food into small portions and then is shoveled onto a conveyor belt to be taken up to the dryer which dehydrates it at a rate of 1000 lbs an hour and packed into barrels to be stored until needed. Once every three months, the chopping stops and the volunteers package the soup mix for an entire week. A two year shelf life on the product allows sufficient time for it to be distributed throughout the world. Over 1 million servings of soup were distributed to Haiti after the earthquake and 28,000 lbs. of fresh produce is needed weekly to keep up with the demand. It’s amazing how so many hands can produce so much soup.

“The Ontario Christian Gleaners (OCG) is an interdenominational Christian organization that seeks to demonstrate God’s love to a hungry world by working with volunteers and donations to collect, process, & distribute surplus agricultural produce.”