Muscatine County unites for Freezing for Food
by Margaret Hurlbert
December 09, 2022

MUSCATINE, Iowa–Putting on the biggest food drive of the year represents no small task for the Salvation Army of Muscatine County and their many supporters throughout the area. This year, numerous groups and organizations came together to keep the drive successful and the Salvation Army’s food pantry filled to help people in need in 2023.

This year, more volunteers than ever turned out to keep the trucks at Fareway and Hy-Vee staffed and accepting donations throughout the week of Dec. 5. At Fareway, volunteers from Tantara Transportation collected food donations. At Hy-Vee, volunteers from a multitude of organizations, including Bosch Pest Control, Boy Scout Troop 127, Community Bank & Trust, CryoWellness of Muscatine, HNI, Hy-Vee, MidWest One Bank, Grace Lutheran Church, Matt Fletcher’s Channel Seed, the Muscatine High School Muskie Minutes production team, Muscatine Power and Water, Muscatine Radiology, Pearl City Media, Phelps, RIVO Plumbing and Heating, River Rehab, Ruan Transportation, Ruhl & Ruhl, and R7 Reclaimed.

Erika Cox, director for customer experience and technology at Muscatine Power and Water, welcomed the chance to assist the Salvation Army at one of their most critical times of the year. “The Salvation Army is a great group and a group that we support,” she said. “We have people coming out to work the truck and accept donations from our very generous community,” she added, “even at work, we do toy drives and we do food drives so employees can bring things to work and then we can bring out donations.”

On Wednesday, Freezing for Food received its most unique donation in its 22 year history. In the morning, an anonymous donor presented Pearl City Media President Chris Anderson, one of the volunteers on hand at the time, with a small wrapped up package that at first looked a little like a frozen steak. Closer inspection revealed the package contained a 100 ounce (or six and a quarter pound) bar of pure silver, worth about $2,300. Anderson found the experience inspiring sharing that as a longtime volunteer and provider of media coverage for Freezing for Food, “we get to see great people in our community doing great things that other people don’t always get to see.”

A festive display at Hy-Vee welcoming people to bring donations for Freezing for Food to the HON and Ruan trailer. Photo by Discover Muscatine staff.

Lieutenant Lucas Gantner expressed deep gratitude for the donation: “I just want to say thank you so much. It will really help us love beyond this Christmas season.”

Thursday afternoon, Anytime Fitness kept the donations coming with a large load that they carried in with the help of volunteers from Cryo Wellness of Muscatine. All involved felt good about helping out. “At Anytime Fitness, we had a food drive throughout the whole month of November and we got all these wonderful goodies here to donate for Freezing for Food, so just a big shout out to all the members of the Anytime Fitness community for donating throughout the whole month of November,” said Cassie who dropped off the donation.

“I think just being a small business owner in a small community like Muscatine, it’s a quick, easy way to give our time as a thank you to our community that has supported us over the year,” said Sam Kaufmann, co-owner of Cryo Wellness of Muscatine.

Friday finished strong, with Impact Fitness and Nutrition donating a whole pallet of food paid for through contributions by their athletes. “This is a shining moment for our athletes giving back to the community, and we’re absolutely thankful for that,” Impact Co-Owner Scott Schultz said with pride.

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