NPR: "This Stanford Ph.D. Became A Fruit Picker To Feed California's Hungry"

Sarah Ramirez runs an organization that brings excess produce to the hungry. Here, she gleans apples from a front yard.

By some estimates, we Americans throw away about 40 percent of our food, from the cabbage that's wilting in our refrigerators, to the fruit that's falling off the orange tree in our neighbor's backyard.

In California's Central Valley, one woman has started a grassroots effort to feed hungry people by rescuing some of that produce.

At first glance, Sarah Ramirez's decision to leave a bright future as an epidemiologist with a doctorate from Stanford University to become a fruit picker might seem downright crazy. To understand her motivations, you first need to know a little about the economics of California's Central Valley, where Ramirez grew up, the daughter of farmworkers.

The rest of the story: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/12/19/255252581/this-stanford-ph-d-became-a-fruit-picker-to-feed-californias-hungry