CITY DWELLERS GET FOOD FROM RURAL FAMILIES

OLD APPLETON -- Youthful members of three rural families teamed up this spring to help provide food for needy city families.

"A group of our grandchildren and one of their friends planted 100 pounds of potatoes this spring," said Helen Ponder. "They dug the potatoes last weekend."

Production for the young farmers was good.

"We had plenty of potatoes for the family, and gave 450 pounds for delivery to less-fortunate people in the St. Louis area," said Ponder. "The children planted the potatoes specifically to send to the St. Louis area."

Participating in the potato program were nine grandchildren of Bill and Helen Ponder.

They include Dustin and Kendra Kaempfe, children of Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Kaempfe; Elizabeth and Brent Kasten, children of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Kasten; Brittany, Annie and Aaron Ponder, children of Mr. and Mrs. Rick Ponder; and Laura and Jennifer Ponder, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy Ponder. Also participating in the program was a friend, John Boxdorfer.

"Ages ranged from 12 and under," said Helen Ponder.

The program of sharing food started in the area about eight years ago when a Catholic priest working in a parish in St. Louis visited a family from Perry County and heard a farmer talk about how she was going to keep her zucchini crop from going to waste.

The visiting priest gathered all the farmers' extras at that time and delivered them to a parish in St. Louis.

"The next year some of the farmers in this area planted an extra row or two of vegetables for the needy," said the Rev. John Bolderson, administrator of St. Joseph Parish in nearby Apple Creek.

Bolderson said the program also included other foods.

"We have raised chickens and cattle on church land," said Bolderson. "One of the projects involved 30 chickens. The grade-school children raised them, and the high school prepared them for shipment to St. Louis."

Currently two cattle are being raised on St. Joseph Church land.

About 100 farm families belonging to six Catholic parishes in Ste. Genevieve and Perry counties now plant extra rows in family vegetable plots and participate in the program.

It's all part of the St. Louis Archdiocese's Operation St. Isidore, named for the 11th-century Spanish farm laborer, Isidore, patron of farmers. About 34 tons of produce have been distributed since the program started.

"We deliver food to the St. Louis area about four times a year," said Jerry Buchheit, who provides the truck to transport the food. "Last weekend's delivery consisted of about two tons of vegetables."

The vegetables were taken to the St. Louis drop-off spot at St. Joseph's Center in the Carondelet neighborhood.

Farmers in Southeast Missouri delivered the produce to their parish churches. Buchheit, of Biehle, used his 27-foot truck to collect produce at St. Maurus in Biehle, St. Joseph in Apple Creek, St. Vincent's in Perryville, Christ the Savior in Brewer, St. Joseph's in Zell, and Our Lady Help of Christians in Weingarten.

"In many cases this is the only fresh vegetables that some of the people there see all year," said Buchheit.