Farm Bureau’s “Bushels for Hunger” Donates 112,000 Meals in 2022

From the IL Farm Bureau – District 3: Quad Cities Illinois farmers are helping local families with a donation to the River Bend Food Bank through the Bushels for Hunger program for the twelfth straight year.  As of 2022, total contributions by the Bushels for Hunger program exceed $277,000 with this year’s $ 22,515 contribution.  With this year’s donation, the total number of meals donated by the program since 2010 is now 1,385,600.

Mercer County Farmer and Illinois Farm Bureau District 3 Director, Jeff Kirwan, presented the donation to Mike Miller of the River Bend Food Bank in Davenport on February 6, 2022.

“Thanks to the generous donations of thousands of bushels of grain to the Bushels for Hunger campaign, local farmers worked together to fight hunger in the Quad Cities community with these funds,” Kirwan said.

“I continue to be amazed at the heart of the farming community,” said Mike Miller, then President & CEO of River Bend Food Bank. “In spite of all the supply chain challenges of the past year, farmers have still set aside a significant portion of their harvest to help those even less fortunate. On their behalf, we are very thankful to Illinois Farm Bureau and those who donated.”

The Bushels for Hunger program is a joint program coordinated by the following three Illinois County Farm Bureaus: Henry, Mercer, and Rock Island. Donations by farmers are made to the Bushels for Hunger program in conjunction with the following area grain elevators and ethanol plants: Atkinson Grain, Big River Resources, Cargill, CHS, Consolidated Grain & Barge Co., Gavilon, Gold Star FS, Hillsdale Elevator, River Valley Cooperative, and Rumbold & Kuhn.