A countywide effort resulted in 10,635 pounds and $4,496 collected for local food pantries during United Way of Story County’s seventh annual LIVE UNITED Food Drive. The amount of food and supplies collected increased by nearly 1,000 pounds over last year’s drive.
The food drive ran for almost two weeks and had 90 local organizations that served as collection spots for donations.
Thirteen food pantries in Ames, Cambridge, Colo, Huxley, Maxwell, McCallsburg/Zearing, Nevada, Slater/Sheldahl and Story City received the donations. Donations will be used by the food pantries to help keep shelves stocked during the summer, a time when the pantries feel more pressure due to students eating at home, rather than school, more often. Many of the pantries purchase food from the Food Bank of Iowa for as little as 14 cents per pound, which stretches the cash donations even further.
Photo #1: Kathy Solko, Food Drive committee member, collects donated items for the 2016 LIVE UNITED Food Drive.
Photo #2: Brian Schwartze (left), Kinzler Construction Services, hands over collected items to Food Drive volunteer Jason Mortvedt.
UWSC is a strategic leader in building countywide partnerships to identify needs and to develop, support and evaluate effective human services, especially in the areas of education, income and health, for our diverse community.
