Retired Doctor Harvests Corn to Feed Hungry Families - Zack's Good News

 

A retired doctor in Erie, Pennsylvania, is keeping a community tradition alive, harvesting and donating fresh sweet corn to feed local families. The project was founded by a generous businessman named Jim Renshaw. After 15 years of growing corn for the Second Harvest Food Bank, Jim passed the torch to his former doctor, Jack Yakish, who jumped right into the field to take care of business.

Jack rallied a crew of family, friends, and neighbors and planted three acres of corn from a single box of seeds. This year, Jack and the volunteers hand-picked and loaded thousands of ears into borrowed trailers to deliver 30,000 pounds of corn to those in need.

Amazingly, since Jim started growing corn more than a decade ago, more than 250,000 pounds of corn have been harvested and donated.

Jack said he's grateful for all the help and support he gets from the volunteers and marvels at how much food is grown as a result of just taking care of the seeds and soil. "To think that that box turns into what we delivered this year to the food bank is pretty amazing," he said.