By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Six hundred cases of broccoli — roughly 1,200 pounds — were donated by Smith’s Farm of Presque Isle to the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) after roughly 20 students from the Loring Job Corps Center volunteered their time to pick produce.
Contributed photo
Harvesting the broccoli for the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters through the annual Broccoli Glean made possible by the produce donation of Smith’s Farm of Presque Isle made a different impression on each of the 20 Loring Job Corps Center students who volunteered their time Sept. 16 to pick and box the vegetables; Nicholas Proulx was exceptionally happy to be participating in the broccoli glean, while all that picking made David Gazdzicki a little hungry.
This was roughly the third year that Smith’s has hosted the annual Broccoli Glean, during which the farm’s excess broccoli is picked and shipped to various food pantries in the state.
The students — who made up more than the brunt of the volunteer workforce — spent about five hours in the fields participating in the harvest.
“I knew it would be fun and I liked spending time outside volunteering with my friends and helping out the community,” said LJCC student Nicholas Proulx, 19.
This was the first time many of the students had participated in a harvest, and it was hands-down the freshest broccoli the students had ever tasted.
“I’d never had broccoli that fresh,” Proulx added, “it was very good.”
After spending half a day snapping broccoli off the stems and into the boxes, the students slept well that night.
