When guests arrive for their appointment at Gleaners’ Shared Harvest Pantry in Livingston County, they’re greeted by the warm smiles of volunteers and aisles of fresh produce, bakery goods, shelf-stable items, and refrigerators containing frozen foods, meat, milk, and dairy products.
Gleaners’ team members and volunteers work hard to create a welcoming and dignified atmosphere. As Shared Harvest Pantry volunteer Steve, explains, “We want it to feel like Kroger or a grocery store. So people don’t feel like they’re getting leftovers or the last pick.”
In 2024, Shared Harvest Pantry rescued 630,513 pounds of food from retail grocery stores. These donations include overstock items, food nearing its expiration date, or bakery and produce items stores can no longer sell. Instead of going to waste, this food gets a second life at Shared Harvest—but only if it meets our standards.
On Thursdays, you can find volunteers Karen and Sandy sorting through pallets of fresh produce, inspecting every item for signs of spoilage. “Sandy and I go through and toss stuff that’s not good,” says Karen, a former chef. “It’s dual purpose, I guess—quality control and making sure people get food they’ll actually eat.”
Having volunteered for multiple years, Karen and Sandy have developed a keen eye for food that’s past its prime. “You kind of learn what to look for,” Sandy says. “Dripping things, moldy stuff, anything that smells off. Strawberries, especially—they go bad fast.”
“Today,” Karen adds, “we had a young man—it’s his first day volunteering. He was stacking produce and said, ‘This is my first day.’ So I’m saying, ‘This is bad. This is good. This looks slimy. If you wouldn’t eat it or buy it, don’t put it in the box.’”
Life changes fast…You break a leg, you lose a job, and suddenly you need help.
Steve, Gleaners volunteer
When she’s not volunteering for Gleaners and other local nonprofits, Sandy runs a small farm. While sorting food into shopping carts, she explained that expired goods will soon be transformed into chicken feed. “I’ve got a small herd of garbage disposal chickens,” she says with a smile. “They’ll eat pretty much anything… except blueberry bagels. They’ll leave those behind every time. I don’t know why!”
But it’s not just about what ends up on the shelves—it’s about how guests interact with it. “Don’t put things on the top shelf—what about the guy in the wheelchair?” Steve says. “You have to think about that stuff.” From shelf placement to product display, every detail is designed to make shopping easy, dignified, and inclusive.
Steve, who has spent years volunteering, says he’s learned not to make assumptions about guests. “Just because someone pulls up in a new car doesn’t mean they’re ‘gaming the system.’ They might’ve borrowed that car. You never know their story.”
“For example,” he says, “[A woman in her 70s] came in who’s raising foster kids—she’s a new mom again. Life changes fast. Sometimes decisions aren’t really choices. You break a leg, you lose a job, and suddenly you need help.”
Empathy, compassion, dignity—at Shared Harvest Pantry, these aren’t just buzzwords. These are values our dedicated volunteers exemplify every single day.
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