Ever wonder how a piece of food goes from a food donor and becomes a meal being served at a partner agency? Follow the path of one pepper and see how it transforms lives.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

1. The pepper is donated by Fresh Thyme Farmer’s Market and picked up by a Second Helpings staff driver.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

2. Once back at Second Helpings, the pepper and the rest of the donated food is taken off the van and weighed.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

3. It’s then sorted by Hub Coordinator Melissa York.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

4. It’s then taken into the Hunger Relief cooler, where it sits and waits to be chopped!

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

5. A kitchen volunteer then dices the pepper.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

6. The diced pepper and all of the other peppers wait in the cooler to be used.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

7. Then, the pepper is added to the tilt skillet and stirred in with other ingredients.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

Yum!

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

8. The pepper, now a part of a whole meal, is then scooped into a pan.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

9. After that, it’s wrapped…

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

…and labeled!

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

10. Then, the pepper and its meal is added to a cart.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

11. The pepper and the pans are set in the blast chiller, where they cool off before the next day’s delivery.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

12. A volunteer delivery driver searches for the pepper’s meal and the other pans to be delivered.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

13. The meal and its contents (including the pepper) are loaded into a van.

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

14. The delivery vans pull out to deliver the pepper and thousands of other meals!

Tales from the Table: Follow the Pepper

15. The finished pepper in its hot, nutritious meal is enjoyed by Metropolitan Youth Orchestra students!

Written by Abby Rolland