Lutheran Magazine 2012

80,000 pounds isn't enough -Story by Rachel Pritchett

ELCA member lost his job and began a potato project

In Pennsylvania Dutch country sits a potato patch that yielded 80,000 pounds of Kennebecs for 250 food pantries in three counties last season.

The Potato Project began in 2008 with Walt Zawaski of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Kutzown, Pa. He'd lost his computer job and got inspired by a TV report about a Colorado farmer who had a bounty crop of potatoes, invited takers and was overrun. "Well, I didn't think things were that bad [here], but we could do something," Zawaski said.

In his backyard, he stuck some potatoes in the dirt. Pantries gladly accepted the 7,500 pounds Zawaski and volunteers gave in 2009.

The patch grew to 13 acres. Last year, 988 volunteers harvested the crop in 103-degree heat. In four-hour shifts, they traipsed behind a dusty tractor that turned the potatoes

Joyce Esser works with members of Trinity Lutheran Church, Kutztown, Pa., to help harvest 80,000 pounds of potatoes for 250 food pantries.

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up to the surface. Sent to the Greater Berks Food Bank for distribution, the 80,000 pounds quickly vanished.

"I had no realization that I would be in the potato business," Zawaski said. "[Volunteers flock to Louisiana and Tanzania] but nobody comes here to Kutztown."