University of Northern Iowa seeks thousands of volunteers to help feed hungry kids

As part of the national Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Jan. 16, the University of Northern Iowa is looking for 2,500-some volunteers for a “Pack the Dome” event at its UNI-Dome on campus.

Touted as the single largest volunteer event in the Cedar Valley, organizers aim to pack 80,000 bags of food collected for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank’s “BackPack program” serving “chronically hungry children” in its 16-county service area.

That program in the 2021-22 school year distributed more than 100,000 backpacks of “non-perishable, nutritious, kid-friendly, shelf-stable” food to children in 159 schools in a service region stretching south to Poweshiek County, north to Howard County, west to Butler County, and east to Clayton County.

The idea is to sustain kids who might receive free- or reduced-price lunches at school over weekends and holidays.

Volunteers can reserve spots to help pack across morning and afternoon slots through the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley website at www.vccv.org. Individuals, groups, or full families can volunteer “as a team,” with kids as young as 6 years of age allowed to help.

The event is a collaboration between UNI’s Office of Community Engagement, UNI’s Panther Pantry food bank for students, and AmeriCorps.

Although it’s been a UNI-campus staple for years, it only moved to the UNI Dome for the first time in January 2020 due to its growing popularity. It was canceled in 2021 because of the pandemic and in January 2022 attracted about 1,000 volunteers.

Workers stuffed nearly 48,000 backpacks during that event, according to UNI’s news service.

Referencing the pandemic-related cancellation, UNI Community Engagement Program Coordinator Kristina Kofoot in a statement said she’s excited to be a part of making the event “come to life again.”

“It's incredible to watch so many individuals and organizations come together to make a difference for youth facing food insecurity in the Cedar Valley and surrounding communities,” she said.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com