As the holidays and the economy conspire to drive the need for emergency food assistance, Gleaners is struggling to meet the needs of local families. Holiday meals with candles are a pretty vision, but not the reality for thousands of hungry Hoosiers.
Right now Gleaners is struggling to keep up with its charities requests for more food. That’s why donations, like the one being made by the Indiana Pork Producers, are critical at this time.
Indiana Pork, in partnership with Feeding Indiana’s Hungry, Inc., and the Indiana Soybean Alliance, recently donated 5,000 pounds of ground pork to Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Inc. The donation is part of approximately 250,000 pounds of pork earmarked for Indiana through an ongoing campaign for Indiana pork producers and industry partners to fund a program to donate pork products to Hoosiers experiencing hunger.
This Million Meals Program is designed to help thousands of Hoosier families with one of their most essential needs – high quality protein. The lofty goal of the campaign is to provide one million ground pork meals per year, throughout the year, to those in need. These pork meals will be distributed statewide through the ten food bank members of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry, Inc., Indiana’s statewide network of food banks.
“Indiana donations of pork products have been in place for decades, however, this is the first time the Indiana pork industry is tackling the problem of hunger on a coordinated statewide basis,” said Randy Curless, Indiana Pork President.
The program was formally announced at the Indiana State Fair this summer. “Indiana is blessed with a rich and abundant agricultural economy. There’s no reason anyone in our state should go without a meal,” says Michael Platt, Executive Director of Indiana Pork. “We’re encouraging all of our partners in agriculture to join us to help make Indiana the first hunger free state in the nation.”
For more information or to donate to Million Meals, please visit the website of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry.
