The ISRC hosted its fourth annual Meals from the Heartland food-packaging event on August 1. More than 50 ISU staff, students, faculty and some family members packaged 38,000 meals in two hours at ISU’s Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center. Many thanks to our volunteers and to Cargill who has sponsored the event each year with a generous monetary donation to cover the cost of the ingredients of the Taco Mac meals, which contain soy protein flour, enriched pasta and a vitamin- and mineral-fortified cheese. 

The ISRC hosts the event in August to celebrate Soybean Month in Iowa. This year, the ISRC also continued its 10-year anniversary celebration by providing each volunteer with a color-coordinated team t-shirt, marked with a special 10-year anniversary design, and served a special anniversary cake at the end of the event. The ISRC received special recognition from Meals from the Heartland at the event for becoming a member of the 100,000 Meals Club, having packaged more than 130,000 meals in four years.

Meals from the Heartland works with teams of volunteers from local organizations to package meals for delivery to food insecure people in Iowa, across the U.S. and around the world. Some of the meals packaged at the ISRC event were delivered to food pantries at ISU and in downtown Ames.