Co-op and partners donate $3K to food program
Published 8:35 am Wednesday, May 9, 2018
- Presenting the checks from Northern Country Coop is Kevin Hanson, NCC Feedmill Manager for $1,500 from Northern Country Coop and the matching $1,500 from Land O’ Lakes Foundation. Accepting the checks are Korina Mensink and Emily Harris from Women’s Leadership Initiative/United Way of Mower County, LuAnn Stroup-Lyle School Back Pack Program organizer, Kim Knutson-Our Saviors food shelf and Brian Boysen-Superintendent/principal. Photo provided.
Northern Country Co-op, in partnership with Nutra Blend and Land O’ Lakes Foundation, has $3,000 to the BackPack Program at Lyle Public School.
The BackPack Program supplies bags of food that are assembled at Next Step in Spring Valley under the direction of Carleen Wolterman. The students pack 100 bags each week and distribute to Lyle, LeRoy, Grand Meadow and Southland schools at the end of the week so that qualified children can have nutritious meals at home over the weekend.
Northern Country Co-op is enrolled in Nutra Blend’s “Drive to Feed Kids” program in which funds can be used for local food assistance programs such as the BackPack Program. To go along with that donation, Land O’ Lakes Foundation will match Northern Country Co-op’s contribution.
Northern Country Coop employees set up a food stand at three tractor pulls last summer and grilled brat patties and hamburgers for the hungry crowd with profits going to the Backpack Program.
The employees also took part in Pizza Ranch’s Community Impact Fundraising event in Austin last month and worked for tips and a portion of the sales. Look for them again this summer at Lyle and McIntire, Iowa, where they will be grilling at the tractor pulls to raise money for area schools.
Working as partners to provide value to their members, Northern Country Coop also wants to improve the quality of life in their communities, according to a news release.
