Sharing a ‘huge’ shipment of spuds

What do you do when offered dozens of pallets – equivalent to about 45,000 pounds – of potatoes fresh from P.E.I.?

You pick up the phone and you try to find as many non-profits, like your own, that can benefit from the offering.

At least that’s what Shannon Woykin, executive director of the Aldergrove-based Langley Meals on Wheels (LMOW) did last week.

The huge donation of fresh, thin-skinned russets became available through Second Harvest, a food recovery network that aims to fuel people and reduce the environmental impact of avoidable food waste. LMOW is a member.

RELATED: An inside look at the new Meals On Wheels facility in Aldergrove

In this case, what was dubbed the PEI Potato Crisis in November halted export of potatoes to the U.S. and created a backlog that is still being ironed out.

Working with Second Harvest (https://www.secondharvest.ca), growers have been sending out hundreds of tractor-trailer loads of spuds to locations across the country, from coast to coast, including northern Canada, and yes, B.C. They’re destined for food banks and other agencies tasked with food security in their communities.

Woykin learned of the offer a week ago, but knew it was going to have to be a group effort if it could work for the people of Langley. Not only would the local groups have to commit to picking up their share immediately, but LMOW would have to finde a place to store all the potatoes – even if only for a few days.

Thankfully, South Alder Farms offered up the needed storage space, and the groups – such as the local food banks, a few churches, the legion, Ishtar, Encompass, Langley Community Services Society, Kwantlen First Nation, and the Langley inner city schools – all stepped up to take their share of spuds in a timely fashion.

“We are accepting this donation to share with the community,” Woykin said. “We thought, we could use some, but as long as everyone gets some who really needs it, that’s better.”

The local donation arrived on Monday, in the form of 4,500 10-pound bags of potatoes, and as of Wednesday morning every bag was spoken for and picked up.

“It was great,” she said, minutes after the last pickup.

RELATED: 9 Lower Mainland mayors raising funds to feed the hungry in Mayors’ Food Bank Challenge

“That’s pretty good in three days,” Woykin added, admitting to being a bit sore from helping throw 50-pound containers into all the vans, cars, and SUVs that pulled up at the farm.

“Would I do it again? Yes. Would we always have a space available to take a big shipment like this? No, maybe not. But we’d do our best… I’m always in. If we can reuse something or re-purpose it and feed people instead of letting it go to waste, I just can’t bypass it,” Woykin said.

LMOW has taken half a pallet of the potatoes for their own use, and Woykin said Meals on Wheels will use their portion to make copious meals and soups.

Asked if the program’s chef was researching potato recipes ahead of the mass spud arrival, Woykin said: “Our chef is very innovative and has 40 years of experience in the industry. He can recite recipe ideas instantly,” so she holds no concern their portion will go to good use.

.