“Our food pantry is open three days a week and we serve between 80 to 100 families during that time,” said Maggie Reyes of Upper Des Moines Opportunity (UDMO) Buena Vista County. “We make an effort to get to know them, their struggles and understand how we can best serve them.”
With its office in Storm Lake, UDMO serves all of Buena Vista County with a variety of services including energy assistance, home weatherization, chore services for the elderly, client advocacy, referral services, a food pantry and more.
There are additional UDMO offices in Hamilton, Webster, Wright, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Palo Alto, Emmet, Clay, Dickinson, O’Brien and Osceola counties. On our journey to Haul Out Hunger we stopped at 8 of those 12 locations.
“We are always so grateful for this donation of pork loins because the families we assist are low-income and don’t have the resources to buy them,” explained Maggie. “It’s unfortunate that the healthiest foods are the most expensive, but we appreciate Iowa Select Farms and all they do for our clients.”
During one of our final stops of Haul Out Hunger, our semi rolled into Storm Lake with 240 pork loins ready to go into the freezers at UDMO. The Buena Vista County branch was stop 101 of 120 on our journey to donate 31 tons of pork for Iowans in need.
Each pork loin donated provides 18-four ounce servings of lean, nutrient-packed pork.
“Families may grill these loins, put them in a crock-pot or slice them up for sandwiches,” continued Maggie. “No matter how you prepare them, they’re going to be delicious. And these recipe books that come along with them also help our clients out. We love Iowa Select Farms!”
