Many people involved in community outreach, to those in need here 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, 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 from Deuteronomy 24 which has evolved into Gleaning's Mission Statement:

      "We are united by God to seek the gleanings from the 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 stepping out in faith and become Gleanings Executive Director and Gleanings first and only full time employee.   Pastor Ritter passed away in February 2004 and passed the torch to Mark and all the great volunteers and consortium members that are making 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 providing a vital link to receive surplus food from restaurants, grocery stores, purveyors, brokers and manufacturers and distributing these goods to the local consortium organizations that serve the hungry and need here in Galveston.

May 26, 2004 - Galveston County Daily News Guest Editorial on Gleanings from the Harvest and the City's Proclamation of Pastor Bill Ritter Day