Last year while working for his parents’ pool company, Egan Barzilay noticed that there were vegetables and fruit hanging from branches in the gardens at the houses where he worked, seemingly abandoned or forgotten by homeowners who had left for the season.
Egan, then an eighth grader at the East Hampton Middle School, had an idea. Why not harvest that food? Doing so could reduce waste and support a local food pantry, he thought.
He put a plan in motion, and by the time he hit ninth grade at East Hampton High School this year, school administrators had given him the green light. He calls it Harvest for Humanity, an effort in which students glean what has been left behind in local gardens for the high school’s food pantry and culinary arts program.
“Being an East Hampton resident, I noticed that we’re a diverse town of rich to poor,” Egan said. “We can take a small thing that’s going to waste, and help people.”
He also knew food waste is a worldwide problem — according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Association, about 1.3 billion tons of it every year. Fruits and vegetables have the highest rate of disposal, the United Nations says, and food waste accounts for the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
Egan wrote a letter about his project to the clients of his parents’ business, Proper pH Pools, and received several affirmative responses. Other community members offered to pitch in as well.
“It’s really, really amazing when kids sort of take off on something that they feel passionate about,” said Aubrey Peterson, a social worker at the high school who advises the Environmental Awareness Club. He himself started the club back when he was a student 30 years ago; he graduated from East Hampton in 1989.
So far, Egan and his team have harvested apples from a private orchard, as well as bins of tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers from other gardens.
“We brought it into the East Hampton High School food bank,” he said. “We also are giving it to the Culinary Club to cook with and our hopes are to give it to other local organizations like Maureen’s Haven and food pantries.”
Mr. Peterson said the food bank has just passed its one-year mark and was recently inspected by the organization Long Island Cares, passing the test easily.
East Hampton students have a long tradition of community service and outreach. A few years ago, one student who was incensed about single-use plastic bottles at the school successfully lobbied for bottle refilling stations to be installed, and a pair of students had a project called Soap for Hope in which they collected leftover bars of soap from hotels, sanitized them, and melted them down into fresh soap for needy people.
Recalling a conversation with Egan, Mr. Peterson said, “I told him, ‘You’re the horse and I’m the carriage. You move and as you do, I will support you in any way.’ ”
Egan said he and his peers need more gardens to glean. Those interested in sharing the bounty can call Mr. Peterson through East Hampton High School at 631-329-4130.