Latest news with #RiverBendFoodBank
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kunes Family Foundation to donate 200k meals across the Midwest
The lobby inside Kunes Nissan in Davenport looked a bit different Monday morning. 'It means a lot to us giving back to the community,' said Austin Dougherty, a Kunes Auto Group sales manager. Kunes Auto Group staff members took part in boxing up food to give to local food banks. '(The Quad Cities) do it a lot to us, so it's very impactful that we can give back when we have the opportunity to give back here,' Dougherty said. It's a part of the Kunes Family Foundation's goal to donate more than 200,000 meals across the Midwest. Locally, the bags will go to the River Bend Food Bank, which helps several food pantries. One of the food pantries that River Bend Food Bank works with is at Friendly House in Davenport. They said that these donations are coming at a critical time. 'Anybody that donates even a single item is doing a wonderful thing,' said Emilie Dibbern, Friendly House's family and senior services supervisor. 'This is kind of a lower part of the year. People tend to donate more around holiday times. Recently there has been more people that need to access the food pantry because of the SNAP benefits being decreased, and also food pantries having less items in them.' Friendly House receives food once a week from River Bend Food Bank. 'People are here right before we open the window,' Dibbern said. 'Having a healthy, happy community, and having people with their needs met is the most important thing about being a food pantry.' Kunes Nissan said it's all about assisting neighbors in the Quad Cities one bag of food at a time. '(It's a) lot of meals to help a full family out,' Dougherty said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
You can help letter carriers Stamp Out Hunger in the Quad Cities
The community's largest single-day food drive is back, according to a news release. On Saturday, May 10, residents across the Quad Cities are invited to take part in the 33rd annual Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive by leaving non-perishable food donations next to their mailboxes for local letter carriers to collect. This massive community-wide effort is a proud partnership between United Way Quad Cities, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the Quad City Federation of Labor and the River Bend Food Bank, and it provides vital support to local food pantries as they prepare for increased summer demand. Last year, more than 163,000 meals were collected. That's enough to feed over 40,000 Quad Cities families. Organizers hope to surpass that total this year with the community's continued generosity. 'Stamp Out Hunger is a powerful example of what we can accomplish when working people come together for the greater good,' said Amy Fanning, AFL-CIO Community Services liaison at United Way Quad Cities. 'This partnership with our local letter carriers, labor unions and River Bend Food Bank shows our community that solidarity doesn't stop at the job site—it extends into our neighborhoods to make sure no one goes hungry.' How to participate Place non-perishable food items like canned vegetables, canned meats, pasta, rice, cereal, peanut butter, and boxed meals in a bag next to your mailbox before your regular mail delivery. (Please do not donate frozen or refrigerated foods, homemade items, home-canned goods, or anything in glass containers, because these cannot be accepted.) Your letter carrier or a team of community volunteers will pick up your donation and ensure it gets to the River Bend Food Bank. Volunteer opportunities In addition to donating food, volunteers are needed to help collect donations along delivery routes, and unload and pack boxes of food at area post offices. To sign up to volunteer or learn more, visit here. 'This drive is crucial,' said Chris Ford, CEO of River Bend Food Bank. 'With kids out of school and families struggling to make ends meet, food donations from Stamp Out Hunger help fill a major gap heading into the summer months. Every can, every box, every bag, makes a real difference.' 'We see the need every day on our routes,' added Ross Thorpe, letter carrier with Moline NALC Branch 318 and food drive coordinator. 'Stamp Out Hunger is our way of giving back and making sure no one in our neighborhoods goes hungry. It's an honor to help connect our community in this way.' Local sponsors include IUOE Local 150, Jewel-Osco, NALC Branches 292, 318, 506, 3811, Quad City Federation of Labor, UAW Quad City Area CAP Council, UAW Locals 79, 281, 434, 865, UFCW LOCAL 431 and USW Local 105. About United Way Quad Cities United Way Quad Cities (UWQC) is a social change organization that mobilizes the Quad Cities to action so all can thrive. From strengthening local resilience to advancing education, financial security and health, UWQC is working toward a future where every Quad Citian in every neighborhood can reach their full potential. About River Bend Food Bank River Bend Food Bank works with 400-plus hunger-relief partners in 23 counties to make sure people facing hunger have reliable access to healthy food. Leading the community-wide effort to eliminate hunger in eastern Iowa and western Illinois, the Food Bank distributes millions of meals each year to children, adults, and seniors through partner agencies and food pantries in schools, senior residences, and community organizations. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal cuts impact River Bend Food Bank
Cuts in federal funding continue to affect programs nationwide, including ones in the Quad Cities. River Bend Food Bank lost funding for its Local Food Purchase Assistance Program and Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program. Chris Ford, president of River Bend Food Bank spoke with Our Quad Cities News via Zoom to discuss the loss of funding and the impact it will have in the Quad Cities. 'We just actually lost funding from Iowa and Illinois, funding that was given to us via the states, but the states received it from the federal government. That funding was cut, and it's disappointing. It's certainly a time right now where there's high demand for our guests and for people that are food insecure in our service area, but I think more importantly, the LFPA program (also known as Illinois Eats) really did a few different things. Number one, it provided us an opportunity to form relationships with local farmers that we had not have had before, and it also allowed us to buy their products at fair market value and redistribute those into the communities in the surrounding areas. So, it truly was a local program.' He said as far as they know, the program is over and they're waiting to see what other changes may be coming at the state and federal levels. The food bank was told that any funds spent after January 19 were not eligible, but they had already spent the majority of the funds they were awarded before that date. 'We were in fairly good shape for this year. It was a multi-year agreement in both states, so we got what we got this year, and, from what we understand, the program will no longer exist.'Ford says the programs benefitted both farmers and food pantry clients. 'I think it was a great opportunity for both of us. It was a revenue stream for them, and it was a new stream of food that we've never had access to before. It was really a win/win situation. There were certainly conversations, and there still are conversations about, is it possible to continue to build on those relationships? I can't emphasize the demand that we are seeing right now is significant. Even to lose a local project like this, it really takes its toll on our organization.''We have developed a few relationships through the program already. We utilize it (the relationships) for maybe the last two years in Iowa, but it had really just gotten off the ground in Illinois. So, in terms of relationships, we were just starting to build relationships with Illinois farmers. Could we work a program outside of a state or federal program with those relationships? That is certainly a possibility.'Ford says they're still figuring out the next steps. 'We are advocating both at the state and federal level, in hopes of letting legislators know how important this program was. We are strategizing, kind of behind the scenes, that if this doesn't come back, or it doesn't reappear in some other form, what are the other opportunities that we could utilize? What people need to understand is this is local farmers in local communities in both Iowa and Illinois. What better way to share their production is to have it purchased and given to people who are hungry in their own communities and surrounding areas. It was such a nice package, this worked out so well from so many different angles.' He says concerned residents can contact their legislators to ask them to support these programs. He says River Bend is also watching developments on charges to SNAP funding because it will lead to increased demand for food pantries. 'When you cut the SNAP budget, you're also hurting the economy. For every $1 that's spent in SNAP, it generates $1.80 into the local economy, and you're feeding people who are food insecure. That is the best vehicle we have as a country to feed people. I don't think it's hard to imagine that as those people lose SNAP dollars, they're going to rely on food banks and food pantries across the United States to replace that lost food.' 'The new administration has also put a hold on some of our government funding for food that comes through the Farm Bill. We call that the Emergency Food Assistance Program and there's part of that is discretionary funding. We lost that discretionary funding as the new administration took office, and for us, that's a significant move too. We are assuming we're going to lose about 7% of the food that we typically receive from the government. In terms of dollars, we're talking about $600,000 worth of food that we will not get from the emergency food assistance program. That is significant. If we have to go out and replace that food ourselves, that would be about a 25% increase in our own purchase food budget. We want to make people aware of that also, and hope that they can advocate to their legislators to let them know that that's a vital opportunity that's being missed to feed people throughout both Iowa and Illinois.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
River Bend Food Bank receives $655,000 donation
Hy-Vee is helping to fight food insecurity in the Quad Cities. Monday morning, Hy-Vee presented River Bend Food Bank a check for $655,437.41. It's a result of a 20-month partnership between Hy-Vee and Feeding America. The donation to River Bend Food Bank was collected through the register round up campaign across local Hy-Vee stores and Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh locations. River Bend Food Bank says it's grateful for the donation. 'At a time when our organization is suffering from a lack of donations and certainly the increase in [food insecurity] has been well substantiated that there are several Quad Citians that we need to help feed,' said Chris Ford, president and CEO of River Bend Food Bank. 'An opportunity like this does not come along very often and it's very much appreciated.' 'The Quad Cities has a very large and diverse population, and there is a lot of people who are food insecure,' said Dan Anderson, West Locust Hy-Vee district store director. 'Hy-Vee knows that and we realize that, and we take the ownership of we are going to help our community. We do above and beyond, we think, of any other retailers that we compete against that are in our communities, and we know that it is our responsibility to be good stewards in the community, and take ownership of that.' River Bend Food Bank said it estimates the donation will provide funding for more than three million meals. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
