Hamburgers and hot dogs are fine, but watermelons may be the iconic food of summer, especially here in Arkansas. They can also be expensive, and a rare summer treat for some.
Since 2011, volunteers with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance have congregated at Stone Links Park in North Little Rock to close the harvest season by picking melons for those facing hunger.
Hunger Relief Alliance CEO Sylvia Blain says, since then, they have donated more than 2.5 million pounds of watermelons to charitable food networks across Arkansas.
“We do look for public lands, or even private lands that people will allow us to grow food for the charitable food network on. We do this in other areas in the state as well," said Blain. "We have a watermelon field in Texarkana that was picked about two weeks ago.”
On Saturday morning, volunteers congregated at Stone Links Park in North Little Rock, where it was just a short haybale trailer ride to the watermelon field.
Christian Shamberger was among some of the early-arrivers. He is an AT&T fiber tech who was volunteering at the event for the first time.
"This is my first time so we're going to see how it goes, you know? Out here in the sun," said Shamberger.
A few minutes later, it was time to get started. Brandon Chapman is the food sourcing and logistics manager for the Hunger Relief Alliance. He also grew the watermelon crop, which represents a partnership between the alliance and the city.
“The field here is actually in Stone Links Park, which belongs to the city of North Little Rock. They donate the use of this field for our program," said Chapman. "We plant the watermelons and tend them throughout the season. We actually come through and harvest a few times throughout the year and this is the final harvest of the year, which is more of the gleaning-style harvest.”
Gleaning refers to the practice of walking a plot of land to gather food that may have been left behind after the crop has been harvested throughout the year, and is more suitable for volunteers who may be getting into the field for the first time.
Still, many of the volunteers were experienced Watermelon Crawlers who caught the bug early on and have been out ever since. Emma Bosfield was wearing watermelon patterns from head to toe, and as this was her third crawl, she seemed to be the expert, saying there is a lot to love about the event.
"For one, it's cool to just do all this harvesting and whatnot, and kind of get a better understanding of where our food comes from and the labor that it takes to process it. Also, anytime you accidentally drop a watermelon in the field, I feel like you're obligated to eat it with your dirty bare hands, and there's just something about it that makes it the best watermelon you ever tried!”
While many volunteers were die-hard fans, Brandon Chapman explained this is just step one in a chain of goodwill that helps strike at one of the state’s most dire needs.
Arkansas remains the state with the highest level of food insecurity in the country, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, with over 16% of households listed as food insecure.
With many of the donations being shelf-stable foods like canned goods or cereals, Brandon has a quick answer for anyone who asks, “Why watermelons?”
"Watermelons are really easy for me to grow, they're kind of a one-time pick for volunteers, and they're also a treat for people in the summer. If you check out market prices right now on fresh local watermelons they can hit $15 to $20 apiece. These are that quality watermelon but the people who need them get a treat throughout the course of the summer.”
The crawl lasted about two hours before nearly all the boxes were full, and first-timer Christian Shamberger said he would be happy to come out and crawl again next year.
"I'm always in the game to do a little manual labor, like I said, especially for good causes. Anything I can do to give my time back a little bit, you know, because I'm very fortunate. So I think doing stuff like this is really good for the community.”
Those interested in the mission of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance can visit their website, arhungeralliance.org
