Food Bank of Southern Iowa

FOOD BANK OF SOUTHERN IOWA, INC. HELPS SOUTHERN IOWANS IN NEED

The food Bank of Southern Iowa, Inc. is a bank. Not the kind you store money in.

The Food Bank of Southern Iowa, Inc. is a warehouse that stores donated food products.

The Food Bank of Southern Iowa, Inc. is a 501 © 3 non-profit corporation that serves 13 Southeast Iowa counties. It is a member of America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest charitable feeding program that solicits food from the food industry. The food idea is to reduce waste by collecting excess food products from the food industry and make this food available to those churches or agencies that provide free meals and/or food packages for the needy, senior citizens, and children. The food passes through the Food Bank warehouse as free foods to those agencies that qualify according to the IRS. Everyone benefits, the food industry, the church or non-profit provider, the community at large, and most importantly those individuals in need of assistance.

With hunger a growing problem, the Food Bank of Southern Iowa, Inc. is providing a vital link between the food industries and the churches and organizations that feed the needy.

The Food Bank warehouse is about 15,000 square feet in size and some of the equipment includes 3 trucks, a large walk-in cooler, and 6 walk-in freezers.

Wayne L. Millard, Executive Director, organized the Food Bank in 1983 and continues to volunteer his time. There are 4 full time employees and one part time employee. The Food Bank provides a delivery service to the agencies in the surrounding counties. The agencies receive a food inventory list the week before the delivery is made to their county and the agency phones in the order by case lots, then the orders are pulled and loaded into the truck for delivery.

The cost of operating the Food Bank is constantly increasing. There are no governmental funds for the operation so the Food Bank must rely on private donations, community donations, such as the United Way, for support. Any donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible.

In 2003, the Food Bank delivered a total of almost 960,000 pounds of good food product to the agencies in the 13 counties. Mahaska County alone received 100,839 pounds of that food.

We do feel good with what we are doing in Southeast Iowa by helping those who are less fortunate than others…and usually through no fault of their own,” Millard said.

The Mahaska County United Way will soon begin their annual fundraising campaign. We ask for your support to the United Way. It’s the easiest way to help people in the area.