"Those who needed it couldn''t get it, and those in agriculture didn''t know who needed it," says Brown. "We thought if we could make it easy for growers and shippers by putting the donations all in one centralized location and then distribute it, ultimately it might mean more food available for people in need."

The trio hit the nail on the head. Since its inception, AG Against Hunger has picked up and distributed nearly 100 million pounds of surplus produce. The variety is as vast as any grocer''s offering: artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, strawberries, packaged salads and more.

"We thought if we could reach 50,000 pounds in distribution, that would be phenomenal," Brown says. "But the numbers we see now? Wow. They are a true reflection of the caring and commitment of those in agriculture to the people it''s meant to benefit, those people in need."

AG Against Hunger Executive Director Bernadette O''Keefe describes the logistics of getting the tons of surplus produce from field to table as "simple and straightforward." To see the process in action, though, is nothing short of dizzying.

It''s just after 9 a.m. on a drizzly day in Salinas when O''Keefe zips into the parking lot of the Food Bank where AG Against Hunger rents a tiny cooler. Her convertible could be swooping her up to her old stomping ground in the Bay Area; with her advanced degree she could probably quadruple her salary. "I tried the for-profit sector, but I just couldn''t stay," she says. "Ultimately, my work has to have meaning to me."

The big rig Arias drives is backed into a concrete bay. It''s only an hour into his scheduled workday, and already he''s been out to the cooler of a local grower, had the truck loaded with hundreds of boxes of produce, driven back to the AG Against Hunger cooler, and unloaded most of it. Clearly, his starting time of 8am is just a technicality; he''s been there since long before.

Once a grower or shipper realizes they have surplus produce, they call AG Against Hunger coordinator James Parker, another retiree, to arrange pickup. Some donors make the call once a week or even once a month; others have a truckload to give away every other day. Whatever the frequency, every local grower or shipper has called to donate at some point or another.

From there, the job belongs to Arias and his big rig. "If I go to that place (he points to a labeled box), I know they''ll get me in and out fast. Sometimes I have to wait, but that''s okay."

Sometimes the wait time can be hours. Most commonly the fresh produce is waiting patiently in a cooler to be picked up and distributed, but other times picked-over fields need more hands to pick, or "glean," the passed-over produce. For that, groups of volunteers from churches or other organizations, working through AG Against Hunger, are trained, equipped, and sent out to the field for an arduous day''s work. AG Against Hunger''s trucks then take the gleaned product to coolers for storage.

Jess Brown was one of the founders of AG
Against Hunger 13 years ago.

O''Keefe believes the project--already bigger than anyone dreamed of a decade ago--could still grow significantly. In a perfect world, no field with edible produce within AG Against Hunger''s reach would be tilled under. "We could probably get a field every weekend," O''Keefe says. "With enough parents as supervisors, we''d even take classrooms of children to help."

The reality, she continues, is that there aren''t enough organizations calling to lend a hand with the gleaning. If there were, AG Against Hunger''s 2,000-square-foot cooler wouldn''t be enough to store what could be gathered. They could probably use five times the space.

As it is, their tiny cold box, for which O''Keefe stresses repeatedly she''s extremely grateful, is stocked to the hilt most every day. Oftentimes that means Arias'' truck sits parked completely stocked with food overnight. And much valuable, fertile Salinas Valley soil, with meals galore intact, gets tilled under, its precious produce buried in the dirt.

For the tons of food that do make it to AG Against Hunger''s cooler, the process is far from over. "Once it''s brought back to our cooler and unloaded and inventoried, we call the food banks and pantries, and it goes out to them as they need it," O''Keefe says.

While that may suffice for the four million pounds of produce that feed the hungry locally, O''Keefe explains that AG Against Hunger ships another six million pounds of food a year to food banks around the state and nationwide.

"First we call California Emergency Food Link. They send trucks and deliver our produce to every county in the state," she says.

Out-of-state, Second Harvest in Chicago sends trucks and delivers AG Against Hunger''s produce nationwide. "We also deal directly with food banks in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas," O''Keefe says.

Leslie Sunny, Executive Director of the Food Bank For Monterey County, says that one of the many benefits of the locally-grown produce her organization receives from AG Against Hunger is that it gives her bargaining power with other regions for different kinds of foods not grown locally.

"We have more than we can use in the time period we need to use it, so we have an informal sharing system. We''re able to give other food banks the things we have in exchange for things like peaches, plums and pears," Sunny says.

There''s no shortage of surplus agricultural product, or, certainly, of people who need it. What is a challenge is the lack of programs like AG Against Hunger. "There''s so much food out there, but there just aren''t enough programs to accommodate the people who need it," says O''Keefe.

As budget axes split dollars into dimes, and the need for donations steadily rises throughout the nonprofit world, tiny AG Against Hunger is feeling the pinch as well.

O''Keefe gets lost in that thought, staring off into the back of a full truck, then folds her arms defiantly across her sweater and shakes her head. "It''s very, very frustrating to me," she says. But there''s more work to be done, and she lets go of her frustration quickly, if only for the time being, to turn her attention to the next task.

As seamless as the line between contribution and distribution has become for AG Against Hunger, the group is certainly no stranger to hard times. Once-donated cooler space is no longer available, and AG Against Hunger has no cooler to call its own. For the time being, the county food bank is renting AG Against Hunger what little cooler space it has available.

"We''re still moving the food we were before, but it''s certainly more of a challenge," O''Keefe says.

Sandy Clifton, sales manager for Salinas mega-grower Tanimura & Antle and a board member of AG Against Hunger, says she''s concerned about the nonprofit''s future in the community. "In addition to the need for cooler space, our costs are rising, funding is very tight, and the demand is growing, so it''s a real financial concern," she says.

Rising gas prices only increase the group''s challenges, and the recent power outage on the East Coast means many stores need to replace their spoiled produce, which means local growers may have less surplus to offer for free. As such, it may not be long before Arias'' truck sits on the street empty at night. For once, the group''s cooler space will suffice, and that''s far from good news.

For the immediate future, AG Against Hunger is hoping its mid-September "Taste of the Harvest" fundraiser will help. O''Keefe says the money raised at that wine-tasting and auction in Carmel Valley will be used just to keep the operation afloat.

Brown shares Clifton''s concerns about the organization''s future but remains determinedly optimistic that the nonprofit''s financial woes are simply a matter of growing pains. "It''s a community collaboration. It''ll work. We''ll make it work," he says.

O''Keefe agrees: "Most everyone in the industry, it seems, has had their fingers in the success of this program. As I see it, as long as the food''s there, and we can find a way to take it, we''ll see to it that someone else can eat it."

Tonight, that may well be 87-year-old Shirley Hilliard. Wearing a baseball cap adorned with pins galore, and dressed head to toe in hippie chic, she mills about the Food Bank/AG Against Hunger bays with a shopping cart. She works at the Food Bank cutting up boxes, but there''s no money to pay her. Instead, they give her food when she needs it.

"I''ll take it home, share it with my neighbors and friends," she says of the produce and Food Bank products in her basket. "It won''t go to waste."

Nearby, Parker whizzes around on a forklift, unloading yet another truck, and restocking the cooler. Arias dodges him, waiting for his turn. A long black cord dangles from his ear down the front of his shirt. He looks down at it when he sees it''s been noticed, then smiles and drowns the hum of the forklift with a laugh. "I''m listening to the Giants game," he quips.

He''s not; it''s 10 am on a Wednesday. The Giants aren''t playing. The thing hanging out of his ear is a cell phone cord, in case one of his kids calls. For this season, and probably the next few, the Giants will have to wait. Arias has more important things on his plate.

AG WEEK KICKS OFF SEPT. 13 WITH TASTE OF THE HARVEST, A FUNDRAISER BENEFITING AG AGAINST HUNGER, FROM 3-6PM AT GARDINER''S RESORT IN CARMEL VALLEY. FOR TICKETS AND INFORMATION, CALL 755-1480.