The Food Bank of Iowa could not serve 175,000 Iowans without the generosity of our supporters. When you think about supporting the Food Bank of Iowa, you likely think about volunteering your time, giving a financial gift, or organizing a food drive. All are imperative to meeting our vision of a hunger free Iowa, but we have other unique needs and ways you can help.

When Alliant Energy representatives made a site visit to the Food Bank of Iowa’s Ottumwa distribution center in March, they identified several ways their company could assist with the organization’s operations.

“We could see the distribution center was in urgent need of additional racking to help with temporary food storage,” said Matt Hanson, Director — Operations for Alliant Energy’s Iowa south region. “I was aware of extra racking at one of our facilities and was able to secure it as a donation to the Food Bank. By seeing the needs of the organization firsthand, it helped us identify additional ways we can assist outside of our traditional Community Grants Program,” Hanson added.

Alliant representatives also noticed the Ottumwa facility could benefit from an energy audit to assess how we could be more energy efficient. Alliant’s local key account manager, David Vollmar, worked with the Food Bank to schedule the audit, which has provided several recommendations for rebate and savings options.

Whether it is racking for our distribution center, a washer and dryer for laundering volunteer aprons, moving dollies for the distribution center, or large quantities of boxes used for mobile pantries, we have a wide variety of needs and many ways for you to help.

If you have items you think may be helpful to our work or to learn about our current needs, please call our office at 515-564-0330.