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Justin and his mom, Kathy Jones of Mount Pleasant, volunteer to take the watermelons to ECCO on Six Mile Road. Kathy Jones said that they have volunteered with Fields to families for a couple of years.

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Volunteers Greg Vanderwerker and Kathy Jones fill the back of Vanderwerker's truck up with watermelons that will be transported to two sites downtown.

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Elmire Raven, executive director of My Sister's House, places watermelons in her car. Raven said that her clients at the domestic violence shelter will surely enjoy having fresh watermelon.

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Shown from left are Christina Lor, Fields to Families interim director, volunteer Greg Vandererker from Kiawah who took watermelons to Crisis Ministries and Star Gospel, Jim Richmond who donated the 3,000 unds of watermelon from his farm in St. Stephen.

When Jacki and Richard Baer, from New York, moved to Mount Pleasant in 2006, they noticed the men who gathered at Crisis Ministries on Meeting Street. The couple thought back to the more difficult times in the beginning of their marriage when it was at times hard to put fresh fruits and vegetables on their own table.

For those in the shelter, they thought, it must be hard to get food, much less healthy food.

The Baers became involved with a local food-rescue organization. When Richard passed away a few years later, Jacki and her friends from the Charleston County Master Gardeners program decided to create their own food-rescue organization as a tribute and memorial to him.

Remembering how Richard had wanted to ask farmers for their unsold produce and that many local farms weren't able to sell all of the produce they grew and disposed of their leftovers, the lightbulb went off in Jacki's head.

Jacki has built partnerships between Fields and Families and local farms to get food that would otherwise be wasted.

According to Fields to Families Interim director Christina Lor, the organization is at a rapid growth spurt. Fields to Families has over 500 volunteers and continues to make partnerships with local organizations in the community. The players in the community that make the mission successful include the farmers who give away their unused fruits and vegetables, the volunteers who help to pick the produce, the community members who give extras from their gardens and recipient agencies who help to distribute the nutritious food to the hungry and needy.

"We help the farmers in need with their excess," Lor said.

While coordinating the volunteers and the organizations which need the healthful foods, Fields to Families reaches out to areas spanning from Moncks Corner to Wadmalaw Island.

There are more than 30 local farms and other food suppliers involved with Fields to Families. In 2008, Fields to Families distributed more than 82,000 pounds, a total of 66,000 meals, to the hungry in the community.

Jim Richmond who donated 3000 pounds of watermelon to Fields to Families, said that 95 percent of sales of produce come from the appearance alone and taste doesn't matter when it comes to who is buying. In the case of the Charleston Grey Watermelon that he donated last Thursday, he said that these would not sell in a supermarket and he was happy to give to those that would enjoy what he has harvested.

Lor said that Fields to Families has two gardens that are cultivated and harvested locally. One sponsored by Whole Foods is on two acres of land in Moncks Corner and the other is at Contenement Springs on Johns Island.

At one of the Fields to Families gardens, volunteers are using a "lasagna gardening" method, where layers of materials (such as compost, cardboard and coffee grinds) are added upon each other, resulting in rich soil where plants will thrive. Junior League members have been going to local Starbucks to collect coffee grinds to make this "lasagna garden" even more successful.

Last year Blackbaud employees built a garden shed to store garden tools and equipment.This past spring, Clemson Extension consumer horticulture agent Amy Dabbs, along with Mark Srean, horticulturist with Berkeley County Clemson Extension agent, and Phyllis Ford, the Fields to Families chairperson, led a group of volunteers who planted squash, okra, eggplant, pepper, tomato plants and bean seeds in six garden beds.

Lor said another initiative Fields to Families has is being present at the Farmers Market where people can find out about them. Agencies are assigned and now one may find Fields to Families at the Farmers Market and other places around the community.

Visit www.fieldstofamilies.org to find out more about the initiative to help hungry people in the community gain access to nutritious fruits and vegetables.

(Helen R. Hammond can be reached at helen@moultrienews.com. Visit our Website at www.moultrienews.com.)