Today (Wednesday) will wrap up the delivery of 28 tons of pork loin to area food pantries through the Haul Out Hunger campaign. Iowa Select Farms and the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation began deliveries at 8 a.m. on July 20 with the delivery of 15 cases to the Centro Cristiano Vida Nueva food pantry in Belmond and concludes today after 3,600 miles at the 98th pantry, the Emmet County Upper Des Moines Opportunity Food Pantry in Estherville. This annual event is part of the long-standing efforts of these organizations to not only support local food pantries, but to also build awareness of food insecurity issues in the state. “With schools closed for the summer and holiday donations almost gone, it’s tough for food assistance programs to keep their shelves and freezers full during the summer months,” says Jen Sorenson, communications director for Iowa Select Farms. JoAnne Vandyne, director of the Southern Central Iowa Community Action Program in Wayne County, agrees. She says they get some donations of canned goods and cereals, but not meat donations like this. “We have to buy meat to stock protein in our pantry, which is expensive,” she says. By the end of the day, the Iowa Select Farm employees will have delivered 937 cases of fresh pork loins that will help alleviate food insecurities for 11,244 families with almost 300,0000 servings this year, surpassing the 2016 donation by nearly 70,000 servings.
