GARNER, IA--
It's the season of giving. “That's just great that somebody can think of the poor people in the community,” said Linda Vaudt, of the Kossuth County Care Team.But one local church is taking giving to a whole new level. “That's going to help out lots and lots of families,” said Vaudt.
“There is a real need out here, people are starving,” said Deb Schmidt, of the Zion Evangelical and Reformed Church in Garner. The economic slowdown means some are struggling to survive. “If you don't have a job you don't have money to feed your family,” said Schmidt.
The members of Zion Evangelical and Reformed Church are doing their best to fill that need. They're donating 40,000 pounds of chicken to area non profits.
“With chicken you can just do so many different things with it and it can go so much farther to feed your family,” said Vaudt.
Vaudt was helping two of the organizations receiving chicken on Saturday. She said the donations should help many struggling families. “I know the food pantries are struggling too so this will be a boost for them especially this time of year,” she said.
“There's more people in the community that [are] starving and unemployed than what a person realizes,” said Schmidt. “We left off 400 cases at Des Moines and they could have used double that because they're feeding 12,000 people a month,” she said.
The church used an anonymous donation to purchase the poultry. But for such an enormous gift, the explanation is a simple one: “If we are blessed we are to bless others,” said Schmidt.
They're hoping their contribution leaves fewer people hungry this holiday season. This is the second year the Zion Evangelical and Reformed Church has done the giveaway.
Church volunteers said the donation has been very well received.
About fifty organizations got boxes of chicken at Saturday morning's pickup.
