News : Americorp in Vinton to help alleviate food crisis across the state

Last week Governor Kim Reynolds announced that the state will be providing $3.5 million in funding to support projects like "Pass the Pork" food program. This program was organized to help farmers send their pigs to slaughter using local meat lockers rather than the processing plants which are having difficulty catching up with the backlog of hogs and other animals after recent closures. The meat from this program will then be sent to area food banks. The plan is to also include other products such as beef, turkey, eggs and dairy.

Lieutenant Governor, Adam Gregg announced that "Governor Reynolds is dedicating $1 million to the bulk purchase of these types of products. We will then partner with AmeriCorps workers from across the country who are trained at the NCCC Campus in Vinton, Iowa to repackage the products on the consumer size packaging."

Rob Levis said that the funding will go toward making shelf products like pasta, oatmeal, rice, cereals and make these foods more readily available to food banks across the state. The Americorp members will break down the bulk purchases from the state into family-sized servings.

"Our members will come back, about 20-30 of them, and stay on campus with plans for the work to be done in Waterloo at the food pantry," he said, "they will label, containerize and load the products for shipment to the 6 regional food centers across Iowa."