Teams needed for Meals from the Heartland

It starts with a volunteer holding a bag under a funnel. Four people scoop ingredients — rice, soy protein, vitamins and dried vegetables — into the funnel. The holder then takes the bag to the weighing station where a volunteer carefully verifies the bag is in between the appropriate weights. From there, the bag is passed to a sealer who ensures it is closed tight. A final volunteer puts the bag into a box labeled “Meals from the Heartland.” That one bag accounts for six servings. Each box contains 36 bags, equaling 216 individual meals.

When the box becomes full, a volunteer adds it to the stack of other boxes on pallets around the Southwestern Community College gymnasium. It doesn’t look like a place where layups are made or volleyballs fly back and forth over a net. It’s completely transformed into the site of the annual Meals from the Heartland volunteer event.

This meal-packaging event, a collaboration between Lead UC and SWCC’s Pay it Forward Week, has been making a difference for 13 years. Millions of meals have been distributed across Iowa, the nation and worldwide.

“They got over 62,000 meals packaged last year within the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. timeframe,” Union County Development Association Marketing Coordinator Mallory Tallmon said. “I thought that was very impressive. I hope we can reach that goal this year, but we are needing more teams to sign up and also sponsors to sponsor some teams that can’t pay for it themselves.”

In 2025, Creston packaged the second-most meals of any community in Iowa, feeding 241 children for a year.

The event is being held Wednesday, April 22. Teams of seven to 10 can sign up for a one-hour time slot between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Teams are asked to arrive 20 minutes prior to the start of the shift and can expect to pack for one hour or fill eight boxes — whichever comes first.

Tallmon is also a member of the 2025-26 Lead UC class, and is about to participate in the event for the first time.

“I’m still kind of learning myself what it all entails,” she said. “I’m very excited just from doing research and looking at what they did last year.”

Meals from the Heartland was founded in Des Moines in 2008. Currently, thousands of volunteers package millions of meals each year. In 2025, Meals from the Heartland reports 2 million meals were distributed in Iowa, 1 million meals across the rest of the United States and 18 million meals were delivered globally.

“Every 10 seconds, a child dies from malnutrition,” Meals from the Heartland’s report states. “Meals from the Heartland supports school feeding programs worldwide, providing millions of meals to children in countries facing the greatest need, including South Africa, Haiti, Ukraine and many others. For many children, hunger makes it nearly impossible to focus in school.”

Craig Mittag has been participating on the Kiwanis/Rotary team for the past five or six years.

“Kiwanis’s whole mission is to help the children of the world, and so it just fits our purpose,” he said. “It’s amazing how many meals they can pack and get ready to send in that short of a time.”

Here at home, 12% of Iowans face food insecurity. This is an increase from 7.3% in 2020. More than 120,000 children in Iowa say they do not know where they will find their next meal.

Volunteering for just one hour makes a huge impact, but there are other ways to help outside of this event. Thirty-nine percent of Meals from the Heartland’s 2025 revenue came from individual or organizational donations.

“For every $1,000 you donate, your gift feeds over 13 children for an entire year,” Meals for the Heartland’s report states.

Those interested in participating or sponsoring a team can contact Tracey Evans at evans@swcciowa.edu or Mindy Stalker at director@unioncountyiowa.com.

Lead UC and Lead UC Youth are leadership development programs focused on helping participants grow their leadership skills, learn about local issues and make a positive impact in Union County. This event serves as a hands-on service project where both adult and student participants work together to give back.

“Alone you can’t do a lot, but with this many people doing this and putting in even one hour of time, it makes a huge difference,” Tallmon said. “It’s important to serve others. And this Meals from the Heartland event, the meals go local and worldwide. So you’re not only helping the world, but you’re also helping your own community.”