(This story was updated because an earlier version contained inaccuracies.)
Red, orange and yellow buckets packed with greens line up neatly on raised dirt hills. Intermittent chatter is heard as crops are ripped from the earth. The smell of damp soil flavors the air.
On Saturday mornings, from November through July, dozens of volunteers gather at local farms with one goal in mind: Feed the hungry.
CROS Ministries saves thousands of pounds of food each year throughout the western communities of Palm Beach County with its gleaning program.
Gleaning is the ancient practice of collecting produce left over after a harvest and using it to feed the needy instead of throwing it away. Volunteers collect the produce and bring it to distributors, who deliver it to food pantries.
CROS, based in Lake Worth Beach, has helped to make gleaning a modern practice since it took it up in 2003 and has become recognized as a national leader in it.
In 2024-2025, it recovered 460,245 pounds of food. That equates to more than 383,500 meals, according to Feeding America. Put another way: Its volunteers harvested food that weighs as much as 145 Honda Civics.
Emily Zarzycki, the nonprofit’s outreach director, said CROS has only gotten better at gleaning since she started and is doing it on a larger scale than most.
“We are in the top three largest gleaning agencies in the nation,” said Zarzycki, who has been with CROS for 13 years. “We glean on a commercial level, so we’re not going into a field and picking small amounts of produce.”
“The magnitude that we’re able to glean is one of the things that really sets us apart in just that — our efficiency over the years has just improved and gotten better and better.”
Efficiency isn’t the only thing that increased: The need for food has risen as well. Zarzycki said the ministry is busier now than it was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The cost of living today has drastically affected our community six years later, and the need for the food that we put back into the food recovery system is needed more than ever,” Zarzycki said.
“We’re busier today as an organization than we were in the heart of COVID.”
To glean, Zarzycki said, CROS relies on the help of their volunteers and local partners. She says the whole process can unite a community.
“We worked with approximately 3,700 volunteers this past gleaning season. That is everybody from local school groups, businesses, community partners, congregations, temples, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,” she said.
“Everybody has an opportunity to come together in the community for the common goal of serving the hungry and trying to put fresh food back into the recovery system.”
CROS serves all of Palm Beach County, but has had a major impact on areas in the west, like Wellington and Loxahatchee and all the way to Lake Okeechobee.
Ken Treadwell, the CROS’ board’s president, said the nonprofit leveraged partnerships in his hometown of Wellington to help feed those in need.
“In the Wellington area, our community partner out there has been the Village of Wellington, which has been a great connection from a government standpoint, and we do a mobile pantry there,” Treadwell said.
This year has posed new challenges for CROS and its mission. Federal budget cuts have affected the organization, and it now is looking for ways to make up for a loss of about 10% of its funding, Zarycki said.
“There’s also been cuts in the SNAP program, so we are definitely busier at the pantries because of the need in the community,” she said.
Despite the cuts, CROS continues its fight against food scarcity, Zarycki and Treadwell said. Volunteers journey into the fields every weekend leave satisfied, knowing every picked piece of produce will find its way into the hands of someone who needs it the most.
To learn more about gleaning, go online to www.crosministries.org/gleaning or call (561) 233-9009.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Enough food for 383,500 meals: How gleaning lets nonprofit help Palm Beach County’s needy
Reporting by Brian Olmo / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
