BATH

While the growing season may have ended months ago, hungry Mainers still need fresh vegetables.

That’s why the Merrymeeting Gleaners, a volunteer group founded in June 2016, continue their efforts to gather surplus produce from local farmers for distribution at local food banks and meal sites.

The group invites potential new gleaners to learn more about the program Thursday during a volunteer appreciation event in Bath. The event is for returning volunteers and others concerned about hunger in the Midcoast region.

“ We passed the 40,000 pound mark in March,” said coordinator Kelly Davis, who recently left a full-time job to work as a part-time coordinator for the group.

With the help of interns from Bowdoin College, Davis manages an ever-shifting system of weekly pick-ups and deliveries, serving as a “ broker” between farmers with surplus and more than 20 recipient organizations in nine communities around Merrymeeting Bay.

She and Zach Hebert, a Bowdoin College student, also recruit volunteers for each week’s work.

Most of the surplus gathered in winter consists of storage vegetables: Potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips and the like. The Gleaners have collected donations from Goranson’s Farm in Dresden and from vendors at the Brunswick Winter Market.

“Jan Goranson, her family and staff have been outstandingly generous this winter,” Davis said. “They’ve made it possible for us to glean all season long, which is vital to the people who need fresh healthy food but maybe can’t afford it because they have heating bills to pay.”

To learn more about the Gleaners’ work, and to join their cadre of volunteers, come to the Volunteer Appreciation evening on Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at the Freight Shed, located at 27 Commercial St. in Bath.

For more information, contact Kelly Davis at merrymeetinggleaners@gmail.com.