Students repack food for needy

On Friday night, nearly 20 apron- and rubber-glove-clad IU students stood elbow-to-elbow in a hot, noisy room chatting and dishing out food. Though many of them were strangers at first, the students became acquainted with one another as they repackaged nearly 800 pounds of food for local families in need.\nMembers of the African Student Association and IU professor Vicky Getty’s nutrition class spent the evening volunteering at the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, a local organization that repackages prepared food donated by local restaurants and cafeterias. Groups of volunteers meet at the food bank on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings every week to scoop hundreds or even thousands of pounds of food into four-serving bags, which are then sold in bulk to local non-profit organizations such as soup kitchens, emergency shelters and food pantries.\nEmaelaf Alemu, president of the African Student Association and an IU sophomore, said the club has made volunteering at the food bank a tradition.\n“We find it very interesting and fun to volunteer here,” Alemu said. “We (have) a lot of fun helping and giving back to the community.”\nThe volunteers chatted about classes and their lives as they repackaged foods of all varieties, ranging from pumpkin bisque to pizza. Hoosier Hills collects and stores “damaged” or leftover food from donors that would otherwise be thrown away. All of the food is tested, bagged, labeled and dated before being frozen to await purchase by local agencies.\nDan Baucco, Hoosier Hills’ food rescue coordinator who supervises the food repackaging sessions, said Friday night’s group was larger than usual, but worked hard and did an excellent job. \n“We had a lot of new volunteers (Friday night),” Baucco said. “But I thought they worked efficiently and learned very quickly.”\nStudents in Getty’s nutrition class had worked at Hoosier Hills before and helped show the new volunteers how to handle the food.\nJaclyn Blunk, one of Getty’s students, said Friday was her second time volunteering at the food bank.\n“It’s nice to know we’re helping people,” Blunk said, scooping cold stew from a plastic basin and mashing it into a four-serving container.\nGetty, director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics at IU, asks her nutrition and dietetics students to volunteer at the food bank once a month so they can see what help is provided for community members in need.\n“We do it to step up, to be nice,” Getty said. “It’s good hands-on experience. For me, personally, it’s a good way to pitch in to the community.”\nThe Hoosier Hills Food Bank serves a six-county area around Bloomington and, on average, “rescues” 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of food per week, Baucco said.\n“We actually cleared two million pounds of food last year,” Baucco said.\nAlthough Hoosier Hills does not provide food directly to individuals, vast quantities are sold to local organizations like Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, a food pantry that provides food for eligible families in need. Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard buys 900 pounds of food from the food bank every week. \nBrooke Gentile, executive director of Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, said the rescued food is extremely popular with clients.\n“The feedback that we get from our clients is that they love it, whether that’s verbal feedback or looking at the freezer and seeing that it’s practically empty 45 minutes after we open,” Gentile said. \nClients enjoy the rescued food because it’s healthy, generously portioned and easy to prepare, she said.\n“It’s an incredible way to save food that would have ended up in the landfill,” Gentile said. “To be able to redistribute that food to people who actually need it, that’s a valuable resource.”