Sioux Center, Iowa — A northwest Iowa food bank has been given a large donation by a national brand with a facility near Sioux Center.
Perdue Farms, which operates the former Sioux Preme pork plant south of Sioux Center recently gave the Food Bank of Siouxland nine thousand pounds of chicken.
Marianne Sjaarda with the Hope Food Pantry in Sioux Center explains.
(as said:) “The food pantry in Sioux Center gets a great deal of product from the food bank. That’s a regional distribution center. Originally. I believe Gary Malenke with Purdue here in Sioux Center — a lot of people remember it as SiouxPreme pack — that company — they wanted to donate product locally. He got that ball rolling and they used the food bank as the vehicle to donate through but they requested specifically that it went to Sioux County.”
Purdue says it’s part of their “Delivering Hope To Our Neighbors” hunger initiative. They tell us it is a company-wide initiative focused on providing access to nutritious protein for people struggling with hunger and making meaningful progress toward ending hunger. They say they are using this initiative to elevate awareness of hunger, continue their decades-long support through donations of nutritious protein, associate volunteerism and financial support, and work with stakeholders to make meaningful change.
Sjaarda says they’re grateful for the meat.
(as said:) “We’re just very thankful for any donations whenever they come to us. I think it just is nice to help people along. I think they appreciate having a different meat choice, and it was well-received.”
She tells us the donation was 9000 pounds of breaded chicken.
