The Siouxland Food Bank announces the winners of the 2024 Celebrate Our Friends competition

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – On Wednesday, September 25, the Siouxland Food Bank held its annual Celebrate Our Friends event.

The event recognizes the dedicated service and contributions of local Siouxland organizations and residents to fight hunger in the area. This year, five awards were given.

Volunteer of the Year

The Food Bank says the Volunteer of the Year award is given to an individual or group who has dedicated time and resources to fighting hunger in the community.

This year’s award was presented to students from Sergeant Bluff-Luton High School. The food bank says students in the high school’s Transition Alliance Program (TAP) packed bread into boxes at the food bank’s warehouse almost every week during the school year for agencies to pick up.

Students Sgt. According to Tara Wedel, teacher at Sgt., Bluff Luton High School learned new things by focusing on task and teamwork. Bluff Luton Secondary School. (Siouxland Food Bank)

Tara Wedel, a teacher at Sergeant Bluff-Luton High School, says the students are enjoying their time at the food bank and are happy with everything they have learned.

“We are so grateful to be able to volunteer and help our community while gaining some truly great work experience. The children really enjoy their time at the Food Bank and are very pleased with everything they have learned about helping others, learning new tasks, persevering with a task and teamwork,” Wedel said.

Agencies of the Year

According to the food bank, the two awards were given to two of several agencies throughout Siouxland – one from the Sioux City metro area and the other from a rural Siouxland-area agency that distributes food with the food bank.

Sioux City metro area

The Agency of the Year award for the Sioux City metro area was awarded to Voices for Food. The food bank says it has been working with Voices for Food since 2016.

Since partnering with the food bank, Voices for Food has been ensuring that people receive non-perishable food items and fresh produce through the Community Garden program.

Read more: ‘Everybody’s fighting right now’ – Community gardens in northeast Nebraska are helping families in need

Voices for Food coordinator Brenda Sale says the food bank has been an incredible partner with the program and appreciates its efforts to help the agency feed Dakota County residents.

Since partnering with the food bank, Voices for Food has been providing the Siouxland area with fresh produce and non-perishable foods.(Siouxland Food Bank)

“We have moved over 30,000 pounds in 10 years. products back into the food system in partnership with all the food we receive from the Food Bank. They have been an incredible partner to us and we are so grateful for all of their efforts that help us feed the people of Dakota County,” Sale said. “Voices for Food has over 80 volunteers, including executive board members, drivers, food pantry workers, gardeners, a health center and others from throughout the community who have contributed 2,000 hours of service through this program to reduce food insecurity.”

The food bank also says the program has distributed almost £32,000 a month to around 80-100 households in 2024 alone. The Siouxland Food Bank also says the program has provided more than 433,000 meals to neighbors in need.

Rural Agency of the Year

The second Agency of the Year award went to Community Basket, a charitable organization located at 326 Main Street in Moville, Iowa.

The food bank says Community Basket was one of the first mobile pantries to join its efforts in 2012.

The organization’s president, Kris Gunderson, said the agency started as a church agency after another organization closed, which sparked the idea for the mobile pantry.

Gunderson says the agency is grateful for the award and the way the Food Bank helps the organization reach people in its area.

Community Basket started as a church agency and one of the first Mobile Pantries in the Food Bank Program in 2012.(Siouxland Food Bank)

“We are dealing with the effects of being a food desert in 5 communities that don’t have grocery stores. “On behalf of Community Basket, we are truly grateful for this award and for what the Food Bank does for us so that we can reach people in our area,” Gunderson said

The Food Bank of Siouxland says the Community Basket of Ida County team delivers thousands of pounds of food to places where access to nutritious food is a challenge.

Linda Scheid Heritage Award

The Linda Scheid Legacy Award recognizes an individual or group that has supported the food bank over many years as part of the bank’s mission. Two organizations received the award.

One of the organizations that received the award was Curly’s Food, located on Cunningham Drive in Sioux City.

The food bank says it partnered with Curly’s Food 10 years ago and has donated 1 million pounds of Curly’s Food products to mobile pantries such as Community Basket and Midtown.

Ten years after the food bank began working with Curly’s Food, the organization has consistently donated protein, the number one item needed by the Siouxland Food Bank. (Siouxland Food Bank)

Bobbie Bures of Curly’s Food says the organization is honored by the award and the chance to ensure no one in Siouxland goes hungry.

“We are committed to ensuring that no one goes hungry, especially our local neighbors in need and the communities in which we operate. With our monthly protein donation, we are honored to be able to address hunger in the greater Siouxland area to help support Iowans struggling with food insecurity,” Bures said.

The Kind World Foundation, which began donating to the Siouxland Food Bank in 2010, also received an award.

The food bank says the foundation began serving the food bank with a $10,000 donation to the food bank’s backpack program.

Additionally, the food bank says the foundation also donated $25,000 in grants to the Child Hunger Initiative.

“When the pandemic hit the community in 2020, the Kind World Foundation also donated $30,000 to purchase food as we saw a surge in demand for food assistance. Since 2010, the Kind World Foundation has donated over $254,000 to the Siouxland Food Bank.” the food bank said.

The Kind World Foundation says it is working with other organizations to develop a new program to rescue food that would otherwise be scrapped.(Siouxland Food Bank)

Marcia Waitt, executive director of the Kind World Foundation, says the foundation appreciates the award and looks forward to feeding more people in the future.

“It’s super cool and very exciting. The Food Rescue Program is our most recent contribution, and in this case we have partnered with an organization in Omaha. We’ve now partnered with the Food Bank to talk about how to do this and how complicated it is to save food that would simply be thrown away,” Waitt said. “So it’s preparing fresh food, like from a restaurant, or a banquet, or a wedding, or a grocery store. We really appreciate this award, I want to thank everyone and I’m really happy to be here today and I hope I can feed more people.”

More information about working with the Siouxland Food Bank can be found on its website.