Local volunteers feed 62k

Businesses, churches, volunteer groups and students came together Wednesday at Southwestern Community College with one goal — helping fight hunger.

SWCC hosted its 12th Meals for the Heartland volunteer event, surpassing 750,000 total meals donated from the site throughout the program’s history. This year, volunteers packaged 62,000 meals.

Meals from the Heartland began in 2008 in Des Moines. Since then, the organization has provided more than 250 million meals to the hungry in Iowa, across the nation and around the world.

“Every 10 seconds a child dies of hunger-related issues. And it’s not only a problem halfway around the world in developing countries. It’s right here in Iowa and across our nation too‚" Meals from the Heartland’s website states. “Meals from the Heartland has been actively and successfully battling hunger for over 16 years, delivering nourishing food and hope. Currently, thousands of volunteers come together to package millions of meals each year.”

Lead UC, a countywide leadership group of students and adults in the community, has been helping SWCC plan, advertise and facilitate the event for about a decade.

“Meals for the Heartland is always surprised by the amount of volunteers we bring for throughout the day,” UCDA Director and Lead UC Coordinator Mindy Stalker said.

This year, more than 30 teams came together to volunteer their time and energy for the event. Each team works in hour-long slots, packaging approximately 300 bags.

“Teams of seven to 10 people get together, they donate the funds needed for the meals. Then they come and package bags of food. It’s six servings per bag,” Stalker explained. “Many of the meals stay local, and the rest will go to Des Moines to their main headquarters and get distributed around the world.”

Meals from the Heartland produces two special meal formulas developed by food science and nutrition professionals to supplement nutritional needs to allow children to grow, thrive and become productive members of their community.

This event packaged the Hearty Pack, a bag containing rice, soy protein, vitamins, minerals and dried vegetables. Each serving provides 226 calories and 11 grams of protein.

Stalker said one of the biggest parts of the event is raising awareness about food insecurity.

“The biggest impact is when we tell teams that the bag they’re putting the food in is six meals,” she said. “For people who are not food insecure, it’s not what you would consider to be six servings.”

The event is a part of SWCC’s annual Pay It Forward week. During PIF week, SWCC students, faculty and staff get involved by encouraging positive behaviors and service to the community. The hope is that these efforts will ripple and spread community-wide.

“Our leadership team remains thankful to SWCC for allowing us to have a part in their PIF week, allowing us being a part of planning this activity,” Stalker said. “They probably don’t necessarily need us; they have a great staff and a great group of students, but we appreciate being part of it.”

Teams:

Creston fifth graders

Alliant Energy

Greenfield Nursing Home

Macksburg Community Church

Salem Lutheran Church

RE Lewis Refrigeration

Appalachia Service Project

Mayflower Heritage Christian School sponsored by Hometown Insurance

Greater Regional Health

Creston Kiwanis and Rotary clubs

SWCC Student Senate

Heartland Management Alliance

Holy Spirit Catholic Church

Platte Center Ambassadors

Lenox FFA

Iowa State Savings Bank

CHS Robotics Team

Creston FFA and iJag

Crestmoor Ladies

Union County Youth 4-H Council

White River Soy

Wellman Dynamics

Michael Foods

BUNN

Northwest Bank

Stalker Auto and KSIB Radio

PCSB Bank

Walmart

Sponsors:

Anonymous donor

J&A Flooring