MUSCATINE, Iowa–This year, Freezin’ for Food lived up to its name, as temperatures stayed near or below freezing for much of the week. However, the frigid weather did not deter Muscatine residents from making their way to Hy-Vee or Fareway to donate to the largest food drive of the year.
Throughout the week, volunteers from businesses large and small made a point of staffing one of the trucks or bringing a donation. Bright and early on Monday, Jennifer of Red & Lee Vintage, Morgan and Carolann of Muscatine Lumber, and Jaycee and Maria of Bickford Senior Living came out to staff the HON truck at Hy-Vee, making them the first of several groups to volunteer at both locations. Later in the day, Sierra and Duncan from the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine came to take over for them.
Throughout the week, donations of individual items and prepacked food bags came into the truck. On Thursday, UnityPoint Trinity Muscatine Hospital donated a variety of food items as well as $652 for the Salvation Army to put towards their area of greatest need.
Angie Koppe, who delivered the donation, shared that the items they donated came from their earlier Christmas in July fundraiser, and that they had collected money throughout the year to not only meet but exceed their goal of donating $500 to the Salvation Army this year. “I feel like I just have to ask, and they really do step up and fill in,” she said.
Later in the day, Mayor Elect Brad Bark stopped by the truck at Hy-Vee on behalf of the Community Foundation to highlight why fighting food insecurity in Muscatine County matters so much. According to Bark, the high cost of housing throughout the county has put stress on people’s budgets, including money they would usually allocate to purchasing food.
“What you’re doing here and what the Salvation Army is doing is just an amazing program to feed the people of Muscatine,” he said of Freezin’ for Food. “We as a community most definitely need to take a stance and work together to try to help them, to help everyone in Muscatine reduce food insecurity.”
Later in the day, Chamberlin Heating and Air Conditioning came out to help staff the HON truck. Eastern Iowa Landscape Services stopped out and dropped off a whole pallet of food, keeping the volunteers busy.
On Friday, Freezin’ for Food finished strong. The Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office and the Muscatine Police and Fire Departments helped out at the truck at Hy-Vee, encouraging people to donate to the Salvation army that day or at one of several events they have coming up.
True to form, Troy “Stinky” Philpot stopped out and brought 5,823 pounds of food to the drive, bringing his lifetime donations to the drive to 51,823 pounds of food. He shared he felt, “pretty excited–we got one of them big numbers!”
In the afternoon, Erika Cox, Gage Huston, and Mitch Zytnowski from Muscatine Power and Water volunteered at the HON truck and welcomed Madison sixth graders who came with their scool’s donation of 1,517 cans collected from students and teachers across the school. The students felt great about the opportunity. “I think it’s really helping out the community,” beamed Nathan Canada.
