On a brisk, sunny afternoon Oct. 3 students from Niagara College's Niagara-on-the-Lake campus were busy loading pears into boxes where they will be distributed to various community care organizations. The initiative, known as Pear Up for a Purpose, sees the distribution of fruit from area farms to assist more than 20,000 people who depend on food banks and children's meal programs.

About 82,000 pounds of pears were donated by Puddicombe Farms, Vincic Farms and Vineland Growers Cooperative towards organizations such as St. Catharines Community Care, The Hope Centre, Grimsby Benevolent Fund, Project Share and Community Outreach Program.

"We had a lot of assistance today and it was a lot of fun," said Llewellyn Smith, president of the Niagara Fruit Institute, an organization that promotes the culture and history of fruit farming in Niagara, and the organizer behind the program. "It was great that the farmers donated their fresh fruit towards this. We will get the pears to the food banks as soon as possible."

Smith said the hail storm that swept through the region left farmers with an excess of pears and other crops in a condition not suitable for retail. The pears could not go to waste, so the Pear Up for a Purpose program benefits from the excess, he said.

The Niagara Culinary Institute, a non-profit group that aims to bridge Niagara's farm to table culinary institute, partnered with the NFI for the program. Spokesperson Magdalena Kaiser-Smit said Pear Up was a great way to increase consumer awareness about local produce while helping out community organizations.

"It was a great pear-up," she said.