Potato Giveaway Pt 1
I’m Bob Larson. We told you last week about the billion pounds of potatoes that Washington growers were sitting on after restaurants, schools and other food services shut down.
Well, to alleviate some of that surplus, Washington Potato Commission president Chris Voigt says growers held two events, one in Ritzville and another in Moses Lake where they gave away potatoes to hungry folks …
VOIGT … “We had one of our growers who, you know, is taking a big hit. They’ve already had 50% of their acres cut. They still have a lot of potatoes in storage they have no home for. So, financially they’re hurting, but yet they also realize there’s so many other people hurting in this state and so they opened up their heart they gave us, actually, 60,000 pounds of potatoes that we’re distributing here in Moses Lake today.”
That potato grower is Marvin Waldman of Moses Lake …
VOIGT … “We brought these potatoes in to donate mostly due to the storages are all full, don’t have a place to go with them, trying to figure out how we could best use them instead of digging a hole and burying them, which we think isn’t very useful. People are hungry and need to eat.”
The turnout, Voigt says was amazing …
VOIGT … “I just can’t believe the amount of cars. I mean, it is a line of, man I don’t know, looks like a quarter, half-mile long and it’s been like that all day so far, of people needing food. And we’re happy to give it.”
Voigt says they were humbled by the turnout and the words of encouragement for our farmers.
Listen tomorrow for more on the surplus of Washington potatoes.
