To many people involved in community outreach and to many of those in need in Galveston, Bill Ritter was well known and revered. Pastor Bill spent his life serving the disadvantaged and lived the passion for feeding the hungry. His vision was to establish a food bank here in Galveston to help the many worthy social service organizations provide meals and nutritional food source for the children, the elderly and the working poor. In May 2003,
Pastor Bill brought together a team of dedicated volunteers to officially establish Gleanings From The Harvest and implement the vision to live out the
Biblical command in Deuteronomy 24 which has evolved into Gleanings' Mission Statement:
"We are united by God to seek the gleanings from the harvest.
We seek individuals and organizations prepared to give from their harvest.
We use these gleanings to supplement the needs of the "alien, fatherless and widow,"
that are among us."
One man's life was radically changed by Pastor Bill's vision for this Galveston food bank as Mark Davis left his full time job in May of 2004
to step out in faith and become Gleanings' Executive Director and Gleanings' first and only full time employee. Pastor Ritter
had passed away in February 2004 and the torch
was passed to Mark and all the great volunteers and consortium members who
continue to make the mission of Gleanings a reality in Galveston.
Gleanings From The Harvest for Galveston, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides a vital service to interfaith and community-based organizations by
receiving surplus food from restaurants, grocery stores, purveyors, brokers and
manufacturers and distributing these goods to consortium organizations that serve the hungry and needy in Galveston
County.
