I had an insightful tête-à-tête with my good friend and executive coach, Dr. Curt Buermeyer recently.
I've known Curt for almost 2 decades, and right from the beginning, I realized that he was a forward-thinker, one who had a kind of prescience and ability to easily grasp the big-picture of things. Curt and I discussed how we might take Harvest Stewards from being a nice, clever idea to being a substantial and influential movement; something that leads people, something not only with purpose but also with a magnified impact. Much of our conversation circled around defining and segmenting Harvest Stewards' customer base. “Customers?”, you might ask; “How can you have customers when you GIVE stuff away for free?” Yeah, I thought the same things. But as we talked, it became ever clearer that apart from serving the needs of hungry folks, Harvest Stewards can also serve the needs of donors -of those who have money to put towards a charitable cause. Considering this customer segment, I see Harvest Stewards occupying a special niche. Harvest Stewards brings a unique value set to the table. First, all of our efforts are concentrated right here in the Greater Cincinnati area. Donations don't have to travel very far at all to be put to good work; donations help our very own neighbors and neighborhoods. Moreover, the type of food aid Harvest Stewards offers is uniquely life-changing not only for the recipient but also for the gardeners who contribute. We know that the people who receive food aid from Harvest Stewards generally do not make fresh produce a part of their regular fare. Produce, after all, is expensive, compared to so many other processed pre-packaged foods. Some of our recipients live in what we now call “food deserts”- those areas in which proper grocery stores are nowhere to be found. Whatever the case, and for whatever reasons, Harvest Stewards introduces folks to fresh, locally-grown (and most often, organically-grown) food. Part of our aim in this respect is to get folks to stay in the habit of eating healthful foods, eschewing junk foods. I also said that the food aid Harvest Stewards provides can be life-changing for the gardeners who so kindly and generously sacrifice their hard-won garden treasures. The connection between the gardener and the recipient is so very direct- from my hands to your mouth, essentially. This is intimately compassionate. To get more and more people involved in this kind of thoughtful, compassionate giving? That would be a profoundly positive, deeply transformational turn in the world. How could one not want to be a part of such a thing?
Many thanks to Dr. Curt Buermeyer for a good skull-session and the clarity that it has engendered (with more to come, for sure!).