Hungry for Harvesters: Adna Farm Donates to Food Banks, But is Desperate for Volunteers

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Bill Reisinger can get a little philosophical as he walks the back 5 acres of his farm near Adna. 

“I believe in that karma stuff just a little bit,” Reisinger said while idly walking along a row of tall green cornstalks. “I truly believe you gotta give a little back.”

For the last four years, Reisinger has devoted these 5 acres of his 235-acre hay farm in Adna to growing a variety of produce, which he donates to the Lewis County Food Bank Coalition. He said he and his wife, Mary, have done well for themselves in life and see this as a more effective way of helping out than just giving a lump sum of money to a nonprofit. 

“(Their donations) are very important to us,” said Randy Stokes, coordinator at the Centralia Salvation Army Food Bank. “Fresh produce is hard to get because no one donates it.”

On top of that, Stokes said, the food bank rarely buys any. Unless there’s a great deal out there, the cost of fresh produce is too prohibitive.

“For the cost of 10 or 20 pounds of produce we can get say 100 of cereal, which would benefit more families,” he said. 

Farmers supporting food banks isn’t unique to Lewis County. After Oregon was labeled the most food insecure state in the nation in 2005, 

a program called Farmers Ending Hunger was started. Between 2006 and 2011 farmers in that state donated more than 6 million pounds of fresh food to food banks, according to the program’s website. 

Every spring Reisinger tills and plants new crops. He estimates he’s able to grow a little over 100,000 pounds of veggies, including beans, potatoes, lettuce and squash. But for the couple growing the food is the easy part. In the last three years, Bill figures they’ve given about 320,000 pounds to the food bank network. It’s during the harvest where things get difficult.

Since they began growing veggies, volunteer turnouts have been strong enough to help get the harvest in, but this year the turnout has been so low that some of the crops could go to waste if they’re not brought in in time. Now as an extra incentive, Reisinger is offering free produce to anyone who’ll help harvest. 

“This corn has got maybe another week before it turns,” Reisinger said. “The potatoes and the squash can go into October.”



He said there might be a misconception out there about what kind of people visit a bank. Often, he said, those people are perceived as lazy and freeloading, but that’s not what he’s seen.

“These are people that really need it and usually are too broken down or crippled to work — they’re not lazy,” Reisinger said. “A real weakness in society is they perceive something and in their minds it becomes reality.”

Over the years the farm has been creative with getting the crops off. With the help of Dick Moyer, a Chehalis Food Bank board member, Reisinger was able to get low-level inmates to come out for harvest. But then scheduling became too difficult and that’s created a vacuum that is difficult to fill. Then they tried just asking community members, but little came of it. 

“We have asked people over the years to come help pick; normally very few come,” Moyer said.

The greatest harvest stalwarts have been members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and local Catholic churches. But with all the projects LDS members are involved in, it can be difficult to always make it out. 

“The worst thing that could happen in my mind is this becoming bare ground next year,” said LDS public affairs director Terry Wood. “We need greater commitment to volunteerism in society. We’re not going to change the culture overnight, but we gotta change.”

During the annual Day of Service last year, about 65 people came out to assist; this year it was closer to 20.

“That can make a real difference,” Reisinger said. 

If you’d like to help, contact Wood at (360) 266-0318.