Eric Reece
I never met a potato I didn’t like.
You can bake, fry, boil, mash, hashbrown or scallop them, and I enjoy them anyway they are prepared. I was always glad when Dad told me to dig up a mess of taters and wash them, because I knew I would be eating them soon.
Potatoes are native to Peru, and the Incas cultivated them centuries before the Spaniards came and introduced them to the rest of the world. The English word “potato” comes from the Spanish word “patata.” With over 5,000 varieties, potatoes have become a staple part of diets in many parts of the world and I cannot imagine a home-cooked meal without potatoes.
A few years back, one of our Graham County churches used potatoes as a way to serve the Lord and feed folks. The Baptist Children’s Home has served the needs of families and children in North Carolina for many years.
They expanded their reach in 1971 when the Broyhill family of Broyhill Furniture made a gift to build a campus in the western part of the state.
Located in Clyde, Broyhill Home is located on 91 acres. The centerpiece of the campus is the beautiful lake that is surrounded by children’s cottages. Children are able to attend the local schools and the nearby colleges. They are loved, cared for and well fed.
This is where New Hope Baptist Church out on Snowbird Road comes into the story. As a mission to the Broyhill Children’s Home, they would plant a big field of potatoes, water, weed and look after them until they were ready to harvest. Part of this mission was to help with the expense of food at the home and the other was a very special ministry.
Gerald Phillips would take his tractor over to land near Fletcher Hooper Road and prepare the field. Many folks pitched in to plant the potatoes. When the time for harvest came, the children and youth of the Broyhill Home came to help harvest the potatoes. They traveled on the bus to Graham County.
For many – as they stepped into the field – this was their first time venturing into farming. They were able to see first hand where their food came from, and help harvest it and transport it back to the home.
Before the harvest, the field was bush hogged to clear out the tops. One young girl stood before the field with a pail in hand and said, “Someone already picked them all.”
New Hope and other churches in the area also took the youth fishing, swimming and even riding the trails around Snowbird. This was a blessing and experience to not forget.
They sent a truck to carry the potatoes back. No one knows the thousands of bushels collected over the years. There were so many, the home had a potato house to store them in on campus. Come meal time, the youth – eating what they harvested – must have made them proud.
The potato ministry is no longer happening, but the memories and partnerships continue.
Eric Reece is the faith columnist for The Graham Star. He is pastor of Robbinsville United Methodist Church and can be reached via email, ereece@wnccumc.net.