Unwanted potatoes used to feed hundreds

Reasons such as shape, size, and sugar content can be enough for a corporation to turn a potato away. But the St. Andrew's Potato Project gathers up these misfit crops and finds a place for them. Last weekend, many such potatoes found usefulness in southesat Iowa.

The Potato Project is a regional non-profit under the Society of St. Andrew that hauls spuds which have been refused for use by large companies to smaller entities throughout the country each year. Thousands of pounds of perfectly good starch finds its way everywhere from shelters to students' backpacks.

Mt. Pleasant's Mayor, Steve Brimhall, and the First United Methodist Church have been involved in this process for over a decade. Every fall they recieve to 14,500 pounds. of potatoes to southeast Iowa which they distribute through the surrounding areas.

'The smallest amount given is to the Thanksgiving lunch at the United Methodist Church,” Brimhall said. 'They usually get about 150 lbs. every year.”

Like any good gift giver, Brimhall works from a list, and his has essentially been the same since the start. Other potato recipients include Greg Stacey, who received over 5,000 pounds for local distribution, and Pay It Forward Ministries, which revieves 1,000 pounds of potatoes, just to name a few.

The list has been largely sedentary not because Brimhall doesn't want to give out more potatoes, but because he usually can't.

'They tell me I can get 14,500 lbs. every year,” Brimhall said, 'and that's what I get.”