UA staff, students, volunteers deliver apples to Katrina refugees
Sept. 12, 2005Contact Information:
Dr. Curt Rom and Jason McAfee, Department of Horticulture
479-575-2603, hmedders@uark.edu
By Howell Medders, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
479-575-5647 / hmedders@uark.edu
SORTING — The last of nearly three tons of apples from a University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture research orchard were sorted and packed for delivery to Katrina evacuees Friday afternoon by (kneeling, from left) Carolyn Northrup, Faye Osburn and Deborah Quinn, (standing, from left) Noel Neighbor, Janice Neighbor, Larry Northrup, Jason McAfee and Jason Milne.
PACKING — Jason McAfee, left, and Calvin Bey pack apples from a University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture research orchard in a pickup for delivery to Katrina evacuees.
PICKING — Graduate students Hyun Sug Choi and Kristen Harper pick apples in a University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture research orchard. Nearly three tons of apples were delivered to Katrina evacuees after collection of research data.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Nearly three tons of tree-ripened apples were delivered last week to hurricane evacuees through the efforts of University of Arkansas staff and students, Master Gardener volunteers and others.
Last Tuesday (Sept. 5), U of A Division of Agriculture research technicians Jason McAfee and Heather Friedrich and a crew of volunteers were picking apples in a research orchard for Horticulture Professor Curt Rom.
Katrina and the evacuees were the main topics of conversation as the workers picked, counted, weighed, graded and sorted apples for the research data Rom needed.
“Somebody said maybe they can use these apples,” Janice Neighbor recalled Friday afternoon. She and Robert Crozier were the volunteer workers, called Friends of Fruit, which is part of the local Master Gardener chapter sponsored by the Division of Agriculture.
The pickers got excited about the idea of getting the apples to evacuees. It quickly became a plan with McAfee in charge of sorting and packing and Neighbor leading the effort to contact refugee centers.
Rom said the apples were harvested for data in two projects. One is part of a national program to evaluate rootstocks. The other is a breeding program to develop improved rootstocks. The orchard is at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center off Garland Avenue north of the UA campus.
Previous efforts to donate surplus apples to food banks had fallen through because of storage issues for perishable commodities, Rom said. Most of the fruit is normally composted after collecting the data.
"I told them that after we get the scientific data from the study, then distributing the apples to those in need would be a good use," Rom said.
“By Tuesday evening, we had a dozen people sorting and weighing apples and calling agencies,” McAfee said. Other volunteers were students from the horticulture, poultry science and food science departments and friends of the Master Gardeners.
Jimmy Moore, Horticulture Farm foreman, delivered several pickup loads to the refugee center in Siloam Springs. Others went to the Mount Sequoyah Center and Salvation Army in Fayetteville, Fort Chafee, an agency in Oklahoma and to area churches and community food banks.
The harvest was completed Thursday, and by Friday evening almost all of the apples had been sorted and delivered to refugee agencies and churches.
“Word got around that we had a lot of seconds (damaged fruit), and we started getting calls from churches and others who wanted the seconds for making apple sauce for the refugees,” Neighbor said.
Workers in addition to those mentioned included Calvin Bey, Hyun Sug Choi, Kristen Harper, Alberto Torres-Rodriquez, Dr. Linda McGhee, Carolyn Northrup, Larry Northrup, Deborah Quinn, Jason Milne, Robert Osburn, Faye Osburn, Peggy Ford, Gloria Macintosh, Patricia McLaughlin, Noel Neighbor, Bob Brewer, Guillermo Gaona, Cheryl Lester, Adriana Sandoval, Alberto Torres and Oscar Torres.
Robert and Faye Osburn invited those involved in the effort to a cider pressing party Monday at their home west of Fayetteville.