READING, Pa. – Around 150 students, staff at Alvernia University and volunteers got their hands very dirty on Sunday as part of the annual iHartHarvest day of service.
“They go out into the fields and they pick all the potatoes in buckets and they are dumping them into the big creates. Then after, they come back and they wash them and bag them,” said Laura Nentwig, Community Engagement and Communications Coordinator at the Holleran Center.
They bag a lot of potatoes. “So roughly we pick about 25,000 potatoes and that will feed about 5,000 families in our community,” said Nentwig.
The University has been partnering with Helping Harvest for the past 10 years for this event. Nentwig said, “They get donated to their food banks and food pantries.”
It’s all in honor of Alvernia University’s Patron Saint, Saint Francis of Assisi. This event is always celebrated near the date of the Feast of Saint Francis, which falls on October 4th this year. “He dedicated his life to service,” said, Nentwig.
This event has become a favorite among students and staff. Nentwig said, “It’s very visual; they can see the amount of work that goes into it and the amount of impact that they have on the community as well.”
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