A church — not a retailer — wins potato display contest

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. — How could a church win a potato display contest that’s normally awarded to a retailer?

Sometimes, rules are bent when you look beyond the pretty pile of potatoes.

But first, there’s the creation of a great potato display, as Grace Baptist Church, Mount Vernon, N.Y., did.

Bronx, N.Y.-based Canyon Sales Co., marketer of GPOD of Idaho potatoes, conducted its second GPOD of Idaho potato display contest Feb. 1 to March 31, with retailers as the competitors, as is the custom.

Retailers were challenged to display creativity to win the $500 first prize, said Lou Getzelman Jr., vice president of Canyon Sales.

The company donates fresh produce to the church’s food pantry every week, and GPOD of Idaho donates potatoes weekly as well. Tom Zuckerman, one of the owners of GPOD of Idaho, attended Grace Baptist Church as a child while growing up, Getzelman said.

“Every week they hand out our GPOD of Idaho potatoes and other produce, like cabbage, beets, apples, mangoes — whatever the church asks for each week for the food pantry,” he said.

The pantry volunteers knew about the contest by checking the Canyon Sales website. They asked if they could compete with a display of their own at the pantry, shown to the community members who come for boxes and bags of food.

“It was only right for us to open up the contest this year to the church, and all of the participants agreed who deserved the top prize,” Louis Getzelman, president, said in a news release.

Getzelman awarded the top prize to the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson, whose mother started the church food pantry 36 years ago.

“Because of the generous donations from GPOD and Canyon Sales, we’ve been able to feed 500 families a week during the pandemic,” Shelia Simmons, chief financial officer and director of the food pantry, said in the release.

Canyon Sales is a family company based at Hunts Point Produce Market, one of the largest wholesale produce terminals in the U.S.

Like many other produce companies, the company is battling rising freight prices and lack of truck availability — but there’s still room for donating food to those in need.

“I thought their display was amazing, but it’s really what we saw created at the food pantry,” Getzelman Jr. said. “The real impressive part about it is what they do every week and the people they feed.”