La Salle High School sophomore Lauren DeGooyer picks an apple during her school’s recent Pick-a-Thon. Photo by Libby Young of La Salle High School.

By LIBBY YOUNG
UNLEASHED STAFF

Who would have guessed picking apples could be a religious experience?
Students at La Salle High School had an opportunity to find out during a recent “Pick-a-Thon,” a two-day fundraiser and service project put on by the school for the second consecutive year.
Students spent a day in a local orchard, picking apples for Northwest Harvest. All of the apples picked by students were given to those in need.
It’s a biblical concept that comes from Leviticus 19:10, which reads, “And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger. … ”
Ted Kanelopoulos, the 39-year-old director of campus ministry at La Salle, sums it up like this: “Leave some produce on the tree for the poor.”
The biblical background was the basis for each day of Pick-a-Thon. Students gathered for prayer and a quick lesson in picking before being sent out into the orchard. The day also ended in prayer, as the apples were blessed before they would be sent out all over Washington.
According to Kanelopoulos, the Pick-a-Thon also aimed to educate students about the labor that goes into picking the fruit eaten every day.
And it succeeded.
“It’s very hard work. I feel bad for the people that do this for a job. I was very tired after one day of it,” says 15-year-old Brittney Borchardt, a sophomore.
By lunchtime, students were ready to tear into their food, provided by McDonald’s. And, after a day of picking, it wasn’t uncommon to see students lying, exhausted, in the middle of the lawn back on campus.
Despite the tiring work, students were happy to take a day off from classes to pick apples.
“I felt like I helped the needy get more food,” says 15-year-old Sarah Weedin, a sophomore, before summing up the experience: “It was like working at Salvation Army for the day, but with apples.”
Kanelopoulos, Borchardt and Weedin joined a group of about 15 others who took the project a step further, picking apples after school on a second day. After about two hours in the West Valley orchard, the group gave what it has picked to Northwest Harvest for distribution to local food banks.
Last year, the school was given an entire orchard to pick, divided up between the four grades. A total of 103 bins were loaded. That orchard has since been broken up for development.
This time around, a total of 37 bins were filled. The difference in number was due to the freshmen and sophomores gleaning trees that had already been picked instead of picking trees full of fruit.
The gleaners picked 13 bins.
“Gleaning was so much harder,” Borchardt says. “You could only do so much.”
However, any harvest makes a difference, especially for families suffering in these tough economic times.
After a successful second year, La Salle’s Pick-a-Thon will continue to take place, educating students and feeding those in need.

— Libby Young is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends La Salle High School.

Sophomore Kellie Roy picks apples during La Salle’s Pick-a-Thon. Photo by Libby Young of La Salle High School.

Lauren DeGooyer, left, reaches for the apple Colleen Newell is pointing to. Photo by Libby Young of La Salle High School.

From left, sophomores Colleen Newell, Kellie Roy, and Lauren DeGooyer empty a bag of apples into an apple bin. Photo by Libby Young of La Salle High School.

La Salle sophomore Kellie Roy pulls leaves off an apple. Photo by Libby Young of La Salle High School.