The River Bend Food Bank got a Valentine’s Day gift on Wednesday morning, Feb. 14. That gift came in the form of enough donated food to feed 10,000 people in the Quad Cities region.
“With this being Valentine’s Day, this is a little love letter from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Dr. Richard Whitaker, an official with the church in Davenport, said as the donated food was unloaded at River Bend’s warehouse at 4010 Kimmel Drive in Davenport.
That donation was part of two truckloads of food for Iowa food banks gifted through a collaborative effort by the Utah Farm Bureau Federation and its Miracle of Agriculture Foundation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and with help from the Iowa Farm Bureau. (In addition to the Davenport food donation, a second truck filled with food was delivered to Des Moines a week earlier.)
The Valentine’s Day delivery is the first food donation made in Iowa through this collaborative effort. However, it is part of the church’s ongoing efforts to help feed people in need. The church sends out 20 or more trucks filled with food every month from Utah, said Susan Sims, church communications director for the Iowa and western Illinois region, during a brief ceremony Wednesday for the food delivery at the River Bend.
“This is an amazing way to help people. … There’s even a can opener included in these food boxes,” added Dr. Whitaker, who also is the CEO of the Vera French Community Mental Health Center in Davenport.
Here’s a look at the food donation:
- Nearly 3,000 boxes of food were donated. The food was delivered on 24 pallets that were unloaded in the River Bend warehouse near boxes of muffins and bagels, bags of potatoes, loaves of bread, pallets of breakfast cereal and many other items that were already sitting in the warehouse.
- Each 21-pound box contains 20 items, which included cereal, tuna, beef stew, dry milk, peanut butter, raisins, soup, chili, rolled oats, hot cocoa mix and a can opener. Dr. Whitaker said all the food is high quality and is appreciated by the many people who get it. “People really love this. It’s gobbled up right away,” he added.
- Each food box has enough food to feed a family of four up to four days.
- The donated food will be distributed to the pantries and food banks served by River Bend.
- The boxes of food delivered to Iowa were packaged by attendees of the American Farm Bureau Federation convention, which included Iowa Farm Bureau delegates.
- To date, the food campaign has provided 913,834 pounds of food with a retail value of $2.1 million to more than 46,789 households through 30 pantries and food banks around the country.
Wednesday’s food donation shipment was called a “Utah with love” delivery, said Mike Mathews, River Bend’s marketing and communications director.
In addition to getting the food gift from Utah, River Bend officials are excited about the progress being made on the food bank’s new office addition.
Work now is underway on a 9,741-square-foot office expansion. Mr. Mathews said that the project is “on time and on budget.” River Bend officials hope to start moving into the new addition in late April, and the entire project is expected to be done in May.
Once River Bend’s workers move into their new office space, the current space being used for offices will be renovated and turned into additional food storage space.
A grand opening ceremony for the updated facility is expected to be held sometime this fall, he added.
