Watermelon crawl benefits needy families

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Saturday morning, members of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance gathered at a Scott farm to collect more than 60,000 pounds of watermelon.

"It feels good to know that what we are picking here will help families who really need the food," said volunteer Michael Newton.

The watermelon crawl is an event to support the Arkansas Gleaning Project.

"The Gleaning Project was founded in 2008. It is a project between the Relief Alliance and St. Andrew to get more nutritious food into the charitable distribution system," said Michelle Shope.

Volunteers went through 170 acres of watermelon, which the farm's owner says is a simple act of giving.

"We had a pretty good setting season with the great spring that we had, so we set a lot of watermelons. With the season ending so quickly this year, there will be more watermelons this year to donate than they have been in the past," said farmer Brandon Chapman.