Strack & Van Til teamed up with the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana to package special Thanksgiving dinners on Thursday, November 2.
This year, they plan to pack more than 1,500 bags of food for local families. Amy Briseño, vice president of communications and development at the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, discusses the teamwork put on display to package these meals.
“Due to sponsorship and support from organizations like Strack & Van Til, we’re able to give out holiday meal specific items in addition to our ongoing grocery distribution,” Briseño said. “We like to call this period ‘Hope for the Holidays’ because we’re fortunate with the commitment of the community and businesses.”
Briseño is motivated to see positive impacts on families who might not be able to afford food for the holiday season. She believes this annual tradition helps create better opportunities for families that are struggling financially.
“Our surface area throughout Lake and Porter County is roughly 13% food insecure,” Briseño said. “That’s close to 80,000 of our neighbors who don’t know where their next meal is coming from. We work to create as many opportunities for families across our 120 food pantries and soup kitchens within our network. The support to make events like this happen is extremely important.”
The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana and Strack & Van Til have worked together for this food packing event since 2020. Briseño acknowledges the strength and significance in this partnership over time.
“Strack & Van Til is our annual premier partner,” Briseño said. “On top of this event, there’s a roundup campaign that they run called the ‘Checkout Challenge’ which helps support the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana. Cashiers will ask you to consider rounding up so that the change goes to the food bank. It’s a tremendous fundraiser that they’ve run for us and we could never replicate the reach of that without them.”
This fundraiser runs annually from October 30 to December 31. Customers were able to donate more than 697,000 meals from this challenge in 2020.
Tom Steliga, director of the center store at Strack & Van Til, shares the same appreciation for their partnership with the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana.
“We’ve been doing three donations each year during Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Steliga said. “Working with the food bank at the right time when they need the product has been a great experience.”
Steliga played a big role in coordinating this event. He was grateful that everybody who participated knew their role in how to package the meals efficiently to ensure everything was ready for the holidays.
“I love being in a position to be able to organize events like this,” Steliga said. “We ordered everything and coordinated it in our warehouse before sending it over. Our financial, marketing and operating officers all came to help us pack. It makes the process of getting the meals prepared and delivered so much easier with a reliable team.”
For more information on Strack & Van Til or the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, you can visit their websites.
