Potato Drop II: The Yaminator

40,000 lbs of yams, hundreds of little red bags, students, faculty and administration pulling together for one cause: to keep the Golden Potato. Ok, well not just to keep the Golden Potato, which is the prize for the school that bags the most yams the quickest, but to help the hungry in Hampton Roads.

The second bi-annual Potato Drop was held on April 5 in front of Godwin Hall. Virginia Wesleyan lent helping hand to local food banks and churches by bagging truck loads of sweet potatoes.

At 9 a.m., the 40,000 lbs of leftover yam crop harvested on the Eastern Shore was dumped in front of Godwin Hall courtesy of the Society of St. Andrew.

The potatoes are donated to the Society of St. Andrew, a Christian ministry dedicated to meet the spiritual and physical hunger of the less fortunate. They pay for transportation, and then operate with such organizations as our Community Service office to help distribute the fresh produce.

“It really opened my eyes to what we were trying to accomplish,” said sophomore Terry Heinze. “President Greer was the first person out here ready to start bagging and I realized it really brings the community together.”

You might be thinking, “why would anyone want to eat a left over harvest of yams?” The loads of yams and other produce that are donated to the Society of St. Andrew are rejected by commercial markets due to shape, sugar content or surface blemishes. The food is perfectly fine to eat, but the main purpose is to educate the volunteers and local communities where Potato Drops are held, of the perfectly edible food that go to waste in America.

“This year was a lot better than when I volunteered my freshman year,” said junior Jacob Abrams. “It was cold, rainy and just over all not a good day.”

The sun was shining all day for those who volunteered their time to help feed the 35 million Americans who starve each year.

After a majority of the yams were bagged, teams were sent out to local communities in Hampton Roads. One such community is Diggstown, a subsidized housing development in Norfolk. Volunteers gave out 100 bags of potatoes to the elderly in about 15 minutes.

“It was nice to see the people who need the food, and see how their faces lit up when they received the potatoes knowing that they would have sweet potato pie tonight,” said junior Martha Belvins.

If you weren’t around to hear the music playing all day, the Yam Cam was available online courtesy of VWC and Roanoke’s computer services departments. Live footage of both Potato Drops was obtainable to anyone interested in watching it. Yes, the Golden Potato was given to Roanoke, but VWC still beat them in 2003 with a time of 1 hour and 45 minutes total to bag all of the potatoes that were dropped.

The Potato Drop was still a success for VWC despite the loss of the Golden Potato. The overall value of knowing that VWC helped those that are less fortunate means more than knowing there’s a spray-painted potato on the shelf.

“If we compete in something like a food drive,” said Diane Hotaling, director of community service. “It shows we can improve our community and have fun as well.”