27 JULY 2020 - CARLISLE, IOWA: AMY RODGERS gleans sweet corn on the Butcher Creek Farm in Carlisle. Volunteers from Eat Greater DSM gleaned sweet corn in the fields on the farm. The corn was packaged and will be distributed to Des Moines emergency pantries, community centers, and churches this week. Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or gathering crops from fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is an ancient tradition first described in the Hebrew Bible. A spokesperson for Eat Greater DSM said food assistance need has skyrocketed this year. In a normal year, they distribute about 300,000 pounds of food. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, they've distributed more than 500,000 pounds of food.         PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ
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