Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
FIGHTING HUNGER
State, county officials honor Andy Dinniman with garden dedication for charitable legacy
GLENMOORE >> Scores of county residents united to honor the recently retired state Sen. Andrew Dinniman with a triumphant garden dedication at Springton Manor Farm on Tuesday.
More than 100 people attended the outside event in which Chester County Commissioners recognized Dinniman, who retired last year from public office after nearly three decades of elected service, for his leadership to combat hunger in Chester County.
Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline dedicated a fencedin raised garden, with flourishing fruits and vegetables growing, at the county’s Springton Manor Farm officially as the Senator Andrew Dinniman Garden.
A plaque was also unveiled to rapturous applause.
Dinniman retired from public office at the end of 2020 after nearly 30 years as an elected official, serving as a Chester County commissioner and then for several terms as a state senator with a passion also for supporting veterans.
“When Senator Dinniman announced his plans to retire, we began to think of a way that we could honor his many years of public service, and especially his efforts to address hunger in Chester
County,” said Moskowitz, who chairs the elected governance body with headquarters in the county seat of West Chester.
“The successful Gleaning Program that Andy developed 25 years ago, with a network of volunteers, quickly established a resource for locally grown fruit and vegetables that was distributed to county agencies,” she said.
“The fruits of his labors, along with those of local farmers, community groups and individuals, quite literally continue to this day through gardens like those at Springton Manor Farm, managed by the Chester County Food Bank,” Moskowitz said.
In 1996, Dinniman, while a county commissioner, established the Chester County Gleaning Program, a forerunner to the Chester County Food Bank’s Farming and Garden Education Program.
In 2020, the Chester County Food bank distributed more than one million pounds of fresh food throughout Chester County to a network of more than 160 hunger relief partners.
In 1996, Dinniman called a meeting of concerned citizens to address the hunger issue in Chester County at which time the people gathered suggested that farm surplus, an untapped source of fresh, nourishing food, was a viable solution that could help feed the hungry across the county.
“This program, 10 years ago, became an essential part of the Chester County Food Bank,” Dinniman said. “This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Gleaning Program.”
Dinniman added, “I felt that in a county with the wealth and agricultural heritage that we had, hunger was a solvable problem. Indeed in the last 25 years we have made significant progress in its solution.
“Gleaning is based on the Biblical concept that at the time of the harvest, one would leave the four corners of the field for the poor,” Dinniman said.
“We developed a modern concept, and had hundreds of volunteers gather the crops,” he said. “In fact, working with Prison Chaplain Jack Crans, we even had inmates at the Chester County Prison as gleaners, based on the notion of restorative justice.”
Further, “We established a raised bed program at Pocopson Home, so residents in wheelchairs could glean vegetables,” Dinniman recalled.
During his remarks at the dedication on Tuesday, Dinniman recognized several people in the audience for working with him along the way to help feed the hungry in Chester County, beginning with that meeting 25 years ago which initiated the Glenning Program.
“I believe that the problem of hunger, in a place like Chester County, is solvable, and the Gleaning Program was designed to be part of that solution,” said Dinniman during the garden dedication on Tuesday. “I am deeply honored by the commissioners, naming the Garden in recognition of my public service.”
The first two years of the Chester County Gleaning Program, from 1996 to 1997, yielded approximately 24 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables, and soon after, a formal structure of the program was established. By the year 2000, more than 500 volunteers gleaned and delivered more than 32 tons of fresh produce, according to the county commissioner’s office.
“At the end of each Gleaning event, I said that when we are blessed with an abundant harvest, it is our obligation to share the harvest with all,” Dinniman told the audience during the spacious outdoor event held in front of the raised garden. Folks brought canned goods to donate to the Chester County Food Bank as well, and there were complimentary Herr’s chips, pretzels and chips for guests.
“The concept of Senator Dinniman’s Gleaning Program was very simple, yet effective,” said Kichline. “It is why the Chester County Food Bank continued the model when it was established in 2009, and why it has grown to include some year-round operations like the one at Springton Manor.”
Springton Manor Farm grows food for the Chester County Food Bank and is home to approximately 325 volunteers annually, contributing more than 1,800 volunteer hours of community service to help those in need each year. In 2020, nearly 20,000 pounds of food were produced to feed the hungry at various gardens within the farm.
Maxwell said Dinniman served as a board member of the Downingtown Area School District while he was still a high school student. Dinniman was also Maxwell’s professor at West Chester University, and he was “my Senator when I was Downingtown’s mayor and he’s someone who has inspired me to always stay true to who I am and what I believe.”
Maxwell continued, “Chester County residents have long reaped the benefits of his vigorous approach to public policy that includes multiple points of view and leaves no one behind. There are a lot of people who run for office to fit in, to me Andy stood out.”
Maxwell also credited Dinniman for being his mentor.
“The Chester County Food Bank has nurtured the Gleaning Program into deep rooted initiatives in agriculture, nutrition and education,” said Bob McNeil, Chester County Food Bank chairman.
“Every day the food bank staff works to move our community beyond hunger. Andy has been instrumental in supporting local agriculture and preserving our beautiful Chester County resources for all. The Chester County Food Bank is honored to be a part of his legacy.”