Heart of helping; Feed a Family gives over 550 meals for Christmas
Published 10:25 am Thursday, December 22, 2016
- Chris Holt packs bags for the Feed the Family program distribution Wednesday at Hy-Vee. Photos by Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Those needing a little extra help this season got it in a big way on Wednesday, when the Feed the Family campaign provided food to as many as 575 families at Hy-Vee Foods in Austin.
Volunteers packed bags of food with about $60 worth of items and given to the less fortunate, who had already registered with the Salvation Army for the food prior to Wednesday.
A ham is one of the items included in the bags.
Renee Wangen of KAUS, who first thought of the idea for the event nine years ago, said she thought it was a good way to provide a meal to the less fortunate at Christmas.
“The Salvation Army was already providing a Thanksgiving meal and thought this was a way to provide a Christmas meal, too,” she said.
Bags of food wait to be picked up.
Volunteers, including Mower County Dairy Association princesses, Salvation Army, honor students from Austin High School and the Cooperative Response Center (CRC), kept a full line of packaged food ready to go as people came in throughout the day to pick up the food.
“It’s good for the community; we wanted to support the effort,” said Chris Holt of CRC, one of the CRC crew who was packaging meals.
Each bag contained a full meal, from ham and rolls, to corn and pumpkin pie.
Beginning around Nov. 1, Hy-Vee shoppers were invited to donate to the cause; many businesses and organizations simply walk in the door with a check as well. The main sponsors, in addition to KAUS, Salvation Army and Hy-Vee, are Hormel Foods Corp., Mrs. Gerry’s, Bernatello’s, Bimbo, Mower County Dairy Association and Precision Signs. Together, there was about $35,000 in food items given away.
John Gray, who is president of the Salvation Army advisory council, said he appreciated the program.
“It think it’s a fantastic part of the holiday initiative” undertaken in partnership with the Salvation Army, which also includes the Thanksgiving meal and then the toy distribution.
John Gray packages a bag with food as part of the Feed a Family distribution Wednesday at Hy-Vee.
Feed a Family Coordinator for Hy-Vee, Joe Smilie, the store’s operations manager, watched as the food was being packaged. Smilie said about 575 meals were ready to be picked up; in 2014, as many as 725 were prepared. The number varies, depending upon the registrations.
Whatever the number, all agreed the collaborative theme of the annual effort speaks of true community.
“This is awesome,” said Hy-Vee manager Dan Goshorn, as he stood with Smilie. It was his first year as manager and had not witnessed the coming together before.
“It’s such good thing,” he said. “I am blown away by it.”
