Growing meals for Quad Cities area

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - Thirteen years ago a Quad Cities-based program began by encouraging farmers to donate grain to help support their community. Today that same program still continues on to support those in need.

The Illinois Farm Bureau and River Bend Food Bank held a press conference for this year’s Bushels for Hunger donation drive.

“For the last eight or nine months, because of everything that’s happening we’ve seen a reduction anywhere from 25% to 40% of those food donations,” said President and CEO of River Bend Food Bank Nancy Renkens. “So we find ourselves purchasing more food than what we’ve really ever have before, and that’s why this donation is so perfect because we’ll be able to take these funds and use them to buy more food.”

The Bushels for Hunger program started back in 2010, where together the Farm Bureau and River Bend Food Bank raised roughly nine thousand dollars to purchase more food for their facility, a total that has steadily increased each year, according to River Bend Food Bank.

The Illinois Farm Bureau 3 District Director Jeff Kirwan talked about his involvement in the program, being both a local farmer and member of the Bureau, and the impact it’s made on him.

“I produce corn and soybeans in Mercer County, and that’s not something that you traditionally eat but we’re able to take commodities that we produce, and donate them at the local elevator. The elevator then turns that into dollars, and then that represents food that people can partake in,” Kirwan said.

After 13 years of donations, the Food Bank has distributed 1.5 million meals to families across 23 counties in both Iowa and Illinois, and has raised a cumulative total of over $300 thousand along the way.

To learn more about the River Bend Food Bank visit https://riverbendfoodbank.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5qSty7e-_QIV8cmUCR1eKgZTEAAYASAAEgLzgfD_BwE.

Copyright 2023 KWQC. All rights reserved.