A food bank in western Iowa got a bonanza this week, when a retail chain and a chicken processor made a big donation to help feed the hungry. An Omaha supermarket chain and a poultry processor gave more than six-thousand pounds of chicken to the Nebraska Food Bank, and president Don Schinzell says they’re delighted to be part of an incentive program. He says the processor’s deal with its retailers is an agreement that for every ten pounds of chicken they sell in their store, “MBA Poultry” will donate a pound to a charity of their choice.
Schinzell says “It’s a win-win situation for everybody.” The meat’s already been cut up, so it’s easy for needy clients to “go ahead and bake it, cook it, fry it, however they care to,” Schinzel says. And he notes the poultry is “good, solid protein.” Schinzel explains the food bank is a distribution center. They don’t hand food out to individual needy people, but rather hand it out to food pantries, meal sites and soup kitchens who directly take care of the need. He says the food bank serves mainly metro areas — Omaha and surrounding counties, and Council Bluffs, Pottawatamie County and “a couple counties on either side.” Schinzel says he loves chicken himself, and was pleased to get a donation he knows the needy families will enjoy.