Letter from our Executive Director
August 13, 2022
To all who participated in our Amaizing Sweet Corn Glean-a-Thon and Sweet Corn Festival, the team at After the Harvest says THANK YOU!
A big thanks to our co-hosting partner, the National Agricultural Hall of Fame and Museum, that hosted the Sweet Corn Festival on their grounds, and to all of the volunteers – from both organizations – for working hard to make the Festival a day of fun for all.
A heart-felt thank you to our sponsors: Cargill, Driscoll’s, Bayer, Hallmark, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, ADM, Creative Planning,
Kansas Corn Growers Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, and People Partners Foundation. Thank you for stepping up to support this first-time event. We’re looking forward to doing it again next year!
Thank you to our corn farmers! Our farmers are a pillar of our work. We couldn’t have done it without you – Riverview Farms in Lawrence, Kan, Tom and Andrea Guetterman of Bucyrus, Kan., and Kathy Dean of Raymore, Mo. Thank you!
And a big thanks, too, to our competing teams: Cargill, Hallmark, Driscoll’s, ATH Board of Directors Mary Dees, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, People Partners Foundation, Douglas County Gleaners, Avondale United Methodist Church, Agricultural Future of America, Open Methods, ADM, RFP 360, and Shockey Consulting!
This was the first year of our Amaizing Sweet Corn Glean-a-Thon and Festival. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun and the end result – more than 50,000 ears of sweet corn – helped a lot of people in our community. We’re looking forward to doing it again next year, and we hope you will join us!!
With Gratitude,
Lisa Ousley
Executive Director
After the Harvest
Meet the Teams
Introducing the corporate teams, church groups and families who rolled up their sleeves and got competitive gleaning the sweet corn fields of our three partner farms.
Cargill
Hallmark
Driscoll’s
ATH Board of Directors led by Mary Dees
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
People Partners Foundation
Douglas County Gleaners
Avondale United Methodist Church
Agricultural Future of America
Open Methods
ADM
RFP360
Shockey Consulting
Meet the Farmers
Generous produce donors who seeded acres of sweet corn just for the purposes of After the Harvest’s 2022 Amaizing Sweet Corn Glean-A-Thon.
Kathy & Leo Dean
Kathy Dean is not a farmer. She is quick to say that while she married into a whole family of farmers, she and her husband, Leo, are not farmers. But Kathy is clearly passionate about providing nourishing food for people who cannot afford it. For the past 13 years, Kathy has been growing a 9,999-square-foot garden and donating the produce to Uplift, a mobile street outreach program that seeks to care for people experiencing homelessness in Kansas City.
Tom & Andrea Guetterman
Andrea and Tom Guetterman have been farming for nearly 30 years just outside of Bucyrus, Kansas. They raise soybeans, wheat and field corn along with sweet corn, of which they usually grow a smaller patch for themselves and their community. They also raised five children, and picking sweet corn has been a family activity that they shared with their church and community.
Jimmy Springer, Riverview Farm
Located just north of Lawrence, Kan., Riverview Farm is a new After the Harvest partner. Early in the planning process for our Amaizing Sweet Corn Glean-a-Thon, Scott Thellman of Juniper Hills Farm suggested ATH approach Jimmy Springer at Riverview Farms about growing some sweet corn for the project.
Meet the Media
After the Harvest is grateful for local news media outlets who visited our participating farms and invited us in-studio to talk about our Glean-A-Thon and Sweet Corn Festival!
July 25, 2022
Clay Jarratt visits Better Kansas City to discuss the Amaizing Sweet Corn Glean-A-Thon as corporate teams across the metro prepare to glean, plus the hosts compete in a shuck off!
July 30, 2022
Dave Hurrelbrink from the National Agricultural Center & Hall of Fame and ATH’s Autumn MorningSky visit Fox4KC to discuss the Amaizing Sweet Corn Festival.
August 3, 2022
Fox4KC visits the Guetterman Farm in Bucyrus, Kan., to talk about how to find the ripe ears of corn to harvest during the Amaizing Sweet Corn Glean-A-Thon.
August 3, 2022
Matt Stewart visits with ATH’s Clay Jarratt at the Guetterman Farm in Bucyrus, Kan., to talk about volunteer opportunities during the Amaizing Sweet Corn Glean-A-Thon.
Meet the Moments
Check out additional fun content we created over the course of the 2022 Amaizing Sweet Corn Glean-A-Thon & Festival!
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of KC has 'fields of dream' moment
Thanks to our volunteer team at Blue KC for creating this awesome video showcasing their time at Riverview Farm in Lawrence, Kan. Kudos to Brett Agaki for capturing this!
Festival Fun at the National Agricultural Center & Hall of Fame
Roughly 1,000 visitors attended our 2022 Amaizing Sweet Corn Festival on July 30. Missed out on the fun? Check out the video to see how it went!
A Glimpse of the Glean-A-Thon with Suzy Conaway
A volunteer team led by VEG Squad member Suzy Conaway consists of a youth group from Avondale United Methodist Church. Learn more about the youth group’s mission project by watching the video!
Glean sweet corn with us at the Guetterman Farm!
As regular season volunteers helped us harvest the remaining sweet corn from the Guetterman Farm, come along with ATH as we show you what it’s like to glean with us!
Meet the Maker
Glean-A-Thon award winners receive custom ceramic trophies handcrafted by ATH staffer Clay Jarratt
Volunteer teams who competed in the first inaugural Amaizing Sweet Corn Glean-A-Thon are taking home beautiful trophies handmade by After the Harvest’s own Clay Jarratt. The gleaning network manager — who is also one half of Clay and Wick Co. — detailed his process.
“The awards are individually handmade and each is one of a kind,” he said. “I start with Kansas-dug stoneware clay rolled into a slab, from which I form the plates. I press some clay into a mold to make a 3D ear of corn, attaching it to the plate by scoring each surface and adhering with slip, or watered down clay. Each letter of ‘You’re Amaizing!’ is laid out and stamped individually.”
Click here to learn more about Clay’s process. See more of Clay and Wick Co. work on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
Meet our Sponsors
ATH is grateful to our generous supporters who believed we could achieve this effort! Meet the sponsors who made it possible.
National Agricultural Center & Hall of Fame hosts first inaugural festival
“This was a great opportunity to partner with After the Harvest and help raise awareness about food insecurity, as well as the importance of agriculture in our everyday lives,” said Dave Hurrelbrink, president of the Ag Hall’s Board of Directors.
Hallmark builds upon its lifelong relationship with After the Harvest
Hallmark’s involvement with ATH goes back to our roots. And despite the ongoing pandemic, Hallmark’s employees logged more than 30,000 volunteer hours last year.
People Partners Foundation supports ATH in more ways than one
“We found a friend in After the Harvest and will continue to stick around.”
Cargill reaffirms its commitment to fighting food insecurity
The company sent an impressive team of 25 volunteers to harvest sweet corn.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City rally for food access
Blue KC’s support of After the Harvest is in alignment with its new 2018 initiative, Well Stocked.
Additional Sponsors
