The Deb and Jeff Hansen/Iowa Select Farms Foundation is delivering 110,000 pounds of fresh, boneless pork loins to local community organizations, food shelves, pantries and food banks across Iowa.
“We’re committed to feeding Iowa families in need,” says Jeff Hansen, president and CEO of Iowa Select Farms. “We have many employees and producers in Iowa so our state is the most important area of focus. We understand every community has its own needs and challenges, which is why we are focusing on a grassroots effort to supply pork to local organizations that help the needy, as well as partnering with the Iowa Food Bank Association to get food distributed across the state.
“We collected input from our employees as to what local food pantries we should deliver the pork loins to,” explains Hansen. “It’s tremendous to see the passion and generosity they have for helping families in need.”
Cases of fresh pork loins delivered by employees on behalf of the Deb and Jeff Hansen/Iowa Select Farms Foundation are being made directly into the farming communities of: Ackley, Afton, Alden, Algona, Allison, Carroll, Cambridge, Clarksville, Creston, Dows, Eldora, Emmetsburg, Estherville, Hampton, Hubbard, Huxley, Iowa Falls, Leon, Lamoni, Mount Ayr, Nevada, Osage, Osceola, Pocahontas, Radcliffe, Sac City, Charles City, Steamboat Rock, Webster City and Union. Pork donations are also being distributed to towns in Nebraska and into southern Minnesota.
“When you see a food donation of this magnitude that benefits needy Iowans, that says a lot about Iowa Select Farms,” says Leo Chisholm, director of the Mitchell County Food Bank in Osage. “We serve 2,000 families from this food bank, which is considerably more than in years past. At the same time, our food and financial donations are down 30%. We greatly appreciate this donation and we’re working to make these pork loins stretch a long way.”
Iowa Select Farms also partners with the Iowa Food Bank Association (IFBA) to distribute pork throughout Iowa. The pork donations to the IFBA started off with a delivery of 13,554 pounds of fresh, boneless pork loins to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo and the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) in Hiawatha.
In the next few weeks, deliveries of pork loins will be made to other major food banks across the state, including the Food Bank of Iowa in Des Moines; Southern Iowa Food Bank in Ottumwa; River Bend Food Bank in Moline, IL; Food Bank for the Heartland in Omaha, NE; Siouxland Food Bank in Sioux City and St. Stephen’s Food Bank in Dubuque, IA.
“Hunger affects one out of every eight Iowans,” says Jordan Vernoy, executive director of the IFBA. “Almost 13% of Iowan’s are food insecure — that’s 382,000 Iowans being forced to make tough decisions about providing food for their families or paying their rent or mortgage, paying for transportation, or paying for medical bills. These are choices that no one should have to make. We’re ecstatic about this donation, especially fresh meat and protein which oftentimes is in short supply.”
The Deb and Jeff Hansen/Iowa Select Farms Foundation will also be donating pork loins to Hope Ministries in Des Moines and organizations supporting military families.
All Iowa Select Farms employees also received a pork loin as a way to show gratitude during the Thanksgiving holiday.
The fresh, boneless pork loins are approximately 9 lb. and each can feed 48 people a 3-oz. serving of high quality, wholesome pork. Pork donated by Iowa Select Farms equates to nearly 600,000 total servings.
In early 2006, the Hansen's established the Deb and Jeff Hansen/Iowa Select Farms Foundation to provide ongoing support for community development and service by working with and through philanthropic organizations, particularly those that impact hunger relief, our environment, our families and our employees.