Decorah Police Department announces "Fill the Squad!" Food Pantry donation drive on Saturday, Sept. 9

The Decorah Police Department (DPD) is partnering with the Decorah Community Food Pantry and area grocery stores for a "Fill the Squad!" food drive on Saturday, Sept. 9. On Sept. 9, a squad car will be placed outside each of the four grocery stores in Decorah: the Oneota Community Food Co-op, Fareway, Hy-vee, and Walmart, with the goal of "filling the squad" car with pantry food items at each location. Community members are invited to bring unexpired and unopened pantry/shelf-stable, non-perishable food items and place them in the squad car at each location. The schedule for the squad car is as follows: Oneota Co-op parking lot from 10 a.m. - 11 a.m., then the squad car will shuttle the food from the Co-op to the food pantry, drop off the food, and move on to Fareway Fareway parking lot from approximately 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Hy-vee parking lot from approximately 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. A separate squad car will be at Walmart for the duration of the event, from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. If community members are not able to participate on Saturday, Sept. 9, there will be donation boxes located at City Hall, Oneota Co-op, Fareway, Hy-vee, and Walmart for food drop-offs for the week prior to the event. The boxes will remain in place throughout the day on Sept. 9 in case people miss the squad cars. Decorah Police Officer Nick Yaneff, one of the organizers of the event, hopes that folks will bring their pantry items right to the squad car on Sept. 9 so that the Officers can chat with them and thank them. "Not only is DPD part of the community and here to serve the community, anything we can do to help, we will. And it goes beyond enforcing laws," Yaneff said. "We are here to be supporters of our community, too." Yaneff says that one of the motivations behind the event is to show gratitude to the Decorah Community Food Pantry for being a resource for community members. According to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, over 31,000 people in northeast Iowa are food insecure. Over 10,000 are children. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Thousands of people in Northeast Iowa are just one job loss, missed paycheck, or medical emergency away from food insecurity. According to Yaneff, the Decorah Community Food Pantry has already given 200,000 pounds of food to more than 14,000 family members this year. Yaneff shared that one of his favorite things that Decorah Community Food Pantry Director Matt Tapscott often says is that hunger is a story that we can end, but we must be able to hear stories from the families served. "It all comes down to people wanting to help people," Yaneff said. "It helps to give food, but we also need to talk and listen. Being a neighbor is being there for that person as well, not just giving food." Yaneff says he is thankful that DPD gets the opportunity to shuttle the donated food to the food pantry and be an outlet for a greater cause. "We all play a role in the community," Yaneff said. "And this is the role DPD is able to play right now." Questions about the "Fill the Squad!" event can be directed to DPD Officer Nick Yaneff or DPD Chief of Police Tricia Thein at 563-382-3667.