Ideal growing conditions have led to an overabundance of sweet corn at the Greenawalt Farm in Sewickley Township.

Thanks to the a relationship between the farm and the Westmoreland County Food Bank, those extra ears won’t go to waste.

The food bank is seeking volunteers to pick corn from 9 a.m. to about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Volunteers must be at least 6 years old. Those under age 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Online registration is required and can be completed through an event link on the food bank’s Facebook page.

Gina Colosimo, the food bank’s director of volunteers and food drives, is looking for about 30 people to pitch in during the “gleaning” event. As of Friday, 20 were registered.

“We’ll take anybody if they’re interested and would like to be a volunteer,” Colosimo said. “We have other volunteer opportunities as well in our Delmont warehouse.”

Fifteen volunteers took part in an initial gleaning Monday at the West Newton-area farm. That yielded about 3,300 pounds of corn on the cob, according to Colosimo.

“It was a fun family event,” she said.

Packed in bags, the corn was provided to food bank recipients the same day at one of its weekly grab-and-go distributions of fresh produce and other perishable donated items.

Bags and bottled water are provided for the volunteers.

“We suggest they wear long pants, long sleeves, some boots or old tennis shoes, bring a hat and maybe use some bug spray,” Colosimo said.

The gleaning won’t be held if there’s bad weather, she said. In such a circumstance, registered volunteers will be notified via email.

Brothers Sam and John Greenawalt, the third generation of their family to work on the farm, are in charge of growing and selling the sweet corn, mostly to wholesale customers. Sam Greenawalt estimates they will be able to donate about a half-dozen acres of corn this year out of the 35 acres they planted to the Westmoreland food bank and similar organizations.

“It’s kind of a gamble,” he said of planting corn. “You have to plant enough to fill the orders you have, but not too much.

“You can’t tell what the weather’s going to do. This year it’s been a really good growing season for corn and we ended up with a surplus. We don’t want to see it go to waste.”

He expects to have about a half-acre of corn set aside for the volunteers to pick next week.

“We’re very appreciative of their donations of corn,” Colosimo said.

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