Have you just run a gleaning day?
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Record My GleanVolunteers are the heart of gleaning.
They are the people who will devote their time and energy to saving this food, and who will share your aims and values
Gleaning days are a great way for volunteers to connect with each other and learn about our food system. We have found that the day is more often than not about community and socialising rather than saving as much food as possible, so it’s important to keep the day light-hearted and fun.
It’s easy for the volunteers to get overwhelmed with how much surplus there is to glean, so a key part of managing volunteers is managing their expectations about how much they are able to salvage (without working themselves to the bone). You don’t want your volunteers to feel like they are at agricultural boot camp!
Volunteer coordination calls on the art of good communication skills and the ability to delegate appropriate tasks for the ability and needs of the volunteers.
We encourage you to invite a diverse group of people to your gleaning days, this means that your groups are likely to have a range of abilities and interests so always be conscious of this. There is no standardised way of managing volunteers but given the activity, it’s important volunteers know how to carry out the task they have been assigned safely, and feel comfortable with asking lots of questions.
If you are not already involved with your community and don’t have access to volunteer networks, below are some tips and ideas for finding your glean team
Once you have started to make connections with local farmers, you will need a group of keen volunteers who you can depend on when a gleaning opportunity arises. You may already have enough people within your group; but if at any time you need to recruit more volunteers, there are a number of ways to do this. Possibly the easiest and quickest way to is to approach other local projects, groups and organisations – they are often happy to promote your gleaning activities to their members; they may even want to collaborate with you.
You can also reach our directly to individuals in the community, using a combination of methods including media, social media, flyers and posters, word of mouth, etc.
Volunteers will have different reasons for wanting to come on a gleaning day, so you may want to think about your audience when promoting your project.
More food is wasted in UK farms per year than retail & manufacturing combined (WRAP 2019)
Read more on feedbackglobal.orgWe recommend that you consider:
There are two factors to consider here: (1) how much food is available to be gleaned; (2) how much food can be redistributed in your region?
Feedback gleaning days tend to run from around 10am – 4pm (we always take a good lunch break), but sometimes it’s more appropriate to just glean for a morning.
Sometimes the amount of equipment you have available limits how many volunteers can attend. If you only have access to 5 harvesting knives and gloves, you won’t want more than 10 volunteers (volunteers with equipment can cut the crop, those without can move, stack and pack).
You will be responsible for the safety and wellbeing of volunteers working on a farm, where there are potential health and safety hazards. We recommend no more than 15-20 volunteers for every 1 supervisor.
Farmers can often provide an estimate for the speed at which the produce can be gleaned. They can also provide useful information, such as whether the available crop is all in one field and spaced closely together.
The amount you harvest also depends on the type of volunteers that come, as well as other factors such as the weather.
When it comes to calculating how many volunteers you will need, it’s generally better to overestimate rather than underestimate. Gleaning is as much about community engagement as it is about food waste – it shouldn’t feel like exhausting hard work; volunteers will ideally work in teams and take breaks throughout the day, getting to make new friends as they go.
Once you have a list of potential volunteers on a mailing list and glean day on the horizon, the best way to recruit is through an email mail out. At Feedback, we create light hearted call-outs, using lots of food-related puns but it’s up to you how you think you’ll best capture your volunteers interest
You may also want to promote your event outside of your mailing contacts. Key spaces for advertising your gleaning day include:
Here’s an example of a volunteer call out from a Feedback Gleaning Day
Once you’ve confirmed a glean and your gleaners, you need to figure out the most efficient way to get your volunteers to the farm.
It’s worth checking the nearest bus and train stops to the farm and the rough prices from the nearest towns and cities where you expect your volunteers to be coming from. It’s not necessary to organise transport unless it is a whole group, i.e. a school group, but it’s nice to be able to provide some useful information.
Often, those who are able to drive are essential to the smooth running of your gleaning day. If you are worried that there is not an easy way to get the farm via public transport, you may want to email the drivers on your mailing list first to see if they are able to offer lifts.
Before the event itself, send out an email to your confirmed volunteers a few days before with the following information:
You will need the following information:
Try not to get too caught up in the logistics and enjoy it!
Help us keep the Gleaning Network records up to date by filling out the form in the link below!
Record My Glean