posted on Monday, July 31, 2017
This is the sixth year that Iowa Select Farms has donated to the Riceville Food Pantry – a community that we are extremely passionate about considering the number of our employees and contractors that call Riceville “home”. In addition to annual pork loin donations, we’ve been extremely involved in the community through the work of our community care grant program. Most recently, we’ve been proud to support places like the public library, ambulance services, pre-school programs and the STEM program at school which is the foundation of the Riceville lego league team.
Riceville is a tremendous example of a community coming together to open their hearts and help those around them in need. Last year alone, the pantry dispersed 19,156 pounds of food to 360 households in need. When we had a chance to chad with Diane Setka, secretary of the Riceville Food Pantry, she explained that seven area churches work together to organize the food pantry that provides to 771 people – 235 of which are children.
“I remember receiving a call from a concerned teacher about some students she had that could benefit from the pantry. We brought them in one afternoon and one of the boys said, “this is the smallest grocery store that I have ever seen,”” she laughed. “It was funny, but quickly turned into an eye-opening experience when one of the boys explained that they had no food in their house at the time. None. I was so proud that we could step in and help when they needed it most.”
Together between seven local churches, volunteers rotate staffing responsibilities and cover the pantry needs for a total of two months throughout the year.
“We distribute food based on the size of the family and our clients can come visit us twice a month,” explained Diana. “You couldn’t have come at a better time because we ran out of pork loins last Monday. We are going to make this new batch stretch as far as possible and help as many people in Riceville as possible. We are going to do a lot of good for families in need.” #HaulOutHunger #billionplus
Subscribe to our newsletter: Get fresh articles delivered straight to your inbox.
Subscribe