Volunteers Package 38,000 Meals for Meals from the Heartland
October 17, 2023
The ISRC hosted a Meals from the Heartland food-packaging event on August 2. More than 50 student, faculty and staff volunteers in different color-coordinated team Pod Squad T-shirts (many from the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Human Sciences and Engineering) packaged 38,000 meals in two hours at the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center. It was the center's third annual event, all made possible by Cargill financial donations to cover the cost of the ingredients for Taco Mac meals, which contain soy protein flour, enriched pasta and a vitamin- and mineral-fortified cheese.
ISRC staff delivered some of the meals to SHOP (Students Helping Our Peers) food pantry at ISU and Food at First in downtown Ames, which offers a daily hot meal and food stuffs for those in need. The remaining meals were distributed in the Des Moines area. Meals from the Heartland relies on financial donations and volunteers from local organizations to package meals for delivery to food insecure people in Iowa, across the U.S. and around the world. Thank you to everyone who volunteered! We hope you will join us again next year.
