No crying over spilled produce

Hundreds of Yuma County residents will have some extra vegetables in their meals at several local nonprofit agencies, thanks to an overturned semitrailer carrying produce through Yuma County.

The truck was traveling on Interstate 8 Wednesday night and overturned five miles east of Tacna.

But one man's overturned trailer full of produce is helping another man have a more balanced meal.

Barbara Rochester, special events and public relations director for Crossroads Mission, said a member of Dick's 25-Hour Towing in Yuma called her to let her know about the spilled produce.

"'I've got a semi truck load full, come and get it,'" he told Rochester.

She said the load included pallets of green onions, lettuce and "just a bunch of odds and ends and everything."

And, she said they're very happy to receive the gift.

"It's just a wonderful thing because we need so much produce," Rochester said. "We just got over Thanksgiving and we're getting ready for Christmas, so this helped a great deal."

Rochester said they were able to share the produce with several churches in San Luis and Somerton.

"We just called them and everybody got what they needed," she said.

Right now, the workers at Crossroads are serving about 450 to 500 meals a day, she said. And this gift will allow Crossroads to have a salad with both lunch and dinner, as well as additional vegetables for meals.

"The kitchen's just as happy as could be," she said. "It's just a great help, so we're just really excited about it."

The vegetables will last about four or five more days, Rochester said.

And it couldn't have come at a better time, she said.

"We were so excited, because here's the weekend again, and we were running short on produce."

Rochester said the mission is currently seeking other donations such as coats, canned food and breakfast food items.

For more information on how to give to the mission, call (928) 726-0491 or drop donations off at 2291 E. Palo Verde St. in Yuma.

Stephanie A. Wilken can be reached at swilken@yumasun.com or 539-6857.