Foodbank of Iowa can now ham it up

The Food Bank of Iowa in Des Moines got a large donation of food today from Hormel. Or as director Karen Ford explains, it was a donation that can be exhanged for food.She says they got 19-hundred certificates worth 12 dollars toward a ham. The Food Bank of Iowa serves 260 agencies in 44 counties as a collection and distribution point for donations of food. Ford says these donations will go to “Second Harvest” food banks through a state grocery chain. She says they’ll be split amond the food banks that Hy-Vee serves. Ford says this donation is typical of what’s come in lately.She says the holiday season is always a time of generosity, but she says overall this year, they’re as down in donations as they’ve been in the last ten years. She says there’s a couple of reasons for the downturn. She says a lot of it is the economy, and some is the efficiency in the companies that normally donate food. She says the down economy makes people more likely to sell things than donate. The hams were part of a program in which Hormel donates hams depending on how many of their products are sold in stores.