 Luggage of Love nets 1,000 pounds for food bank
WATERLOO -- Larry Burnam took a chance to say
how thankful he was when he picked up his food
for Thanksgiving dinner.
Burnam's oldest son is coming up from Iowa City
for the holiday, making this the first time he
has seen him since Christmas. With the youngest
son still at home, the entire family will be back
together to celebrate.
The menu still needs to be decided, but he knows
he's not going without his turkey, apple pie and
pumpkin pie for the holiday. The people at the
Northeast Iowa Food Bank already have let him
know.
"I'm real thankful for it," Burnam
said. "Me and my wife are both disabled and
towards the end of the month, we're down here
anyway. It ain't nothing to be proud of, but I
ain't ashamed."
On Wednesday, the Waterloo Regional Airport donated
canned goods from its Luggage of Love food drive
to the food bank. The drive netted more than 1,000
pounds during its stops at Cedar Falls Fareway,
Waterloo Wal-Mart and VGM.
Barb Prather, the food bank's executive director,
said such a drive near the holidays helps to raise
awareness of the hunger problem in the Cedar Valley.
The Northeast Iowa Food Bank released a study
earlier thie year showing about 35,700, or one
out of every 10, individuals in the food bank's
service area has receives assistance from the
organization annually.
"What's interesting about that is 40 percent
of them are children, and if we can start more
partnerships like this and get more people involved,
it means a great deal not only for those families
that we can provide food to year-round, but also
at the holiday time when they might not have a
holiday meal," Prather said.
More specifically, it helps raise awareness that
the Cedar Valley's hunger problem is year-round.
"Actually, our biggest need time, specifically
in our pantry, is in August," Prather said.
"Summer feeding ends and school's not back
in session, so we see a big need at that time.
The biggest time to raise awareness is the holiday
time."
The Luggage of Love drive targeted five key items:
canned fruit, canned meat, canned soups, canned
vegetables and peanut butter. The organization
is part of America's Second Harvest, so it gets
many of its staple items through the national
food bank network. Drives like the Luggage of
Love help make up what isn't sent from the national
network.
Brad Hagen, director of the Waterloo Regional
Airport, said the airport tries to work with as
many different organizations as possible through
its Luggage of Love drives. Last year, the airport
collected backpacks for underprivileged children.
"It's our first time working with the Northeast
Iowa Food Bank, and you're never really sure of
how much would be donated from different organizations,"
Hagen said. "I think everybody feels good
about the donations. We think that's going to
be able to help quite a few people in the Cedar
Valley."
The drive got a word of thanks from Burnam as
well. He has been coming to the food bank for
about four years. While he may not have his Thanksgiving
menu set yet, he's confident he'll figure it out
in time.
"As far as the Thanksgiving dinner, the
wife's kicked out of the kitchen," Burnam
said. "It's mine. I get the holidays."
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