More than 1,000 pounds of fresh produce donated by the Robert Claman family is doing much more than filling boxes- it is putting fresh, homegrown food onto the tables of neighbors throughout Allamakee County.
CALMAR / WAUKON, Iowa ~ Sometimes kindness arrives in a card.
Sometimes it comes through a phone call, a helping hand or a few dollars quietly slipped into a donation jar.
And sometimes kindness arrives by the truckload.
Over the past two weeks, the Robert Claman family of Calmar, Iowa, has donated more than 1,000 pounds of fresh produce to The Allamakee County Food Shelf for distribution to people and families in need over the past two weeks.
And it wasn’t simply 1,000 pounds of food.
It was food that had been grown.
Tended.
Harvested.
Loaded.
Transported.
And then given away.
Boxes overflowed with zucchini and summer squash. Green, red and yellow peppers brought color to the donation. Fresh greens joined the harvest.
And the week before, there was sweet corn, a pickup load of freshly picked ears brought to The Allamakee County Food Shelf to be shared. From there, he went on and shared sweet corn with others in Postville, Iowa.
For the people receiving it, those vegetables can become something altogether different.
A zucchini can become part of a casserole.
Peppers can become supper.
Sweet corn can sit beside a family meal.
Fresh greens can provide something nutritious that might otherwise have been left off a grocery list when dollars had to stretch a little farther.
That is where the true weight of this donation becomes difficult to measure.
More Than Pounds on a Scale
Food insecurity isn’t something that always announces itself.
It can live quietly behind the doors of homes where people are doing everything they can to make ends meet. It can affect working households, older adults, children and people facing an unexpected change in circumstances.
Recent information shared with the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors by the Northeast Iowa Food Bank indicates that approximately one in eight people in Allamakee County experiences food insecurity- including one in six children.
Those aren’t distant statistics.
They represent neighbors.
And that is why a donation of fresh food matters.
There is something especially meaningful about being able to offer families food that came from the soil only a short time before.
Not simply something to eat.
Something fresh.
Something homegrown.
Something somebody cared enough to share.
A Harvest Shared
Anyone who has ever tended even a small garden knows that vegetables don’t magically appear in a cardboard box.
Before there is a harvest, there is work.
There is planting and watering. There are weeds and weather. There are hot days, muddy shoes and time spent watching something small grow into something that can eventually nourish another person.
The Robert Claman family’s decision to share such a large portion of that harvest transforms all of that work into something even bigger.
The harvest doesn’t stop at the edge of their farm.
It continues onto tables throughout another community.
And perhaps that is one of the loveliest things about farming.
One seed can eventually feed someone the person who planted it may never meet.
The Claman family may never know every person who carried home one of their zucchini, peppers or ears of sweet corn.
They may never see the meal prepared from it.
They may never hear the conversation around the table where it was served.
But somewhere between the farm and that table, something important happened.
Someone shared what they had.
And someone else knew that a neighbor cared.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
For decades, The Allamakee County Food Shelf has depended upon community support to help provide food to people facing difficult times. Its history has been built around donations, volunteers and neighbors helping neighbors.
Donations come in many sizes, and every contribution has value.
But receiving more than 1,000 pounds of fresh produce in approximately two weeks is something worth stopping to recognize.
Because generosity like this deserves more than having the vegetables weighed, sorted and handed out.
It deserves a thank you.
So from The Allamakee County Food Shelf, from Word ’Round Town, and most importantly on behalf of the many tables where this harvest will ultimately land:
Thank you to the Robert Claman family.
Thank you for planting.
Thank you for harvesting.
Thank you for loading.
Thank you for hauling.
And thank you for looking at the abundance from your farm and deciding that it should be shared with neighbors who could use it.
A thousand pounds sounds impressive when written on paper.
But its greatest value will never be found on a scale.
It will be found in kitchens.
Around supper tables.
In meals prepared for children.
In groceries stretched another day.
And in that quiet moment when someone opens a box from the Food Shelf and discovers something fresh from an Iowa farm waiting inside.
That is what a harvest of kindness looks like.
Word ’Round Town extends a heartfelt THANK YOU to the Robert Claman family of Calmar, Iowa, for helping turn the bounty of one farm into nourishment for many.
Photos: Fresh produce donated by the Robert Claman family to The Allamakee County Food Shelf. The photograph depicting the earlier pickup-load donation of sweet corn is an illustrative recreation because a photograph was not taken at the time of that donation.
Keep Goin’ ‘Round Town
There’s always another story waiting just around the corner.