116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Table to Table ‘potato party’ distributes 58,000 pounds of recovered vegetables in Johnson County
The Iowa City nonprofit repackaged the donation — the largest in its history — at its distribution center Friday
IOWA CITY — A “potato packing party” hosted by Table to Table repackaged 18,000 pounds of the vegetables Friday afternoon — a fraction of the record-setting 58,000-pound donation the Iowa City nonprofit received this week.
Table to Table has been collecting and redistributing surplus food in Johnson County since 1996. This week’s donation of a semi trailer of potatoes is the largest in its 28-year history.
The donation started last week with an email from Farmlink — a Table to Table partner organization that recovers and transports food. It offered 20 pallet boxes of russet potatoes from Canada.
After reaching out to their partners and learning they could use the potatoes, Table to Table accepted the offer.
“We know people really want them, and it's fresh produce, which is especially hard to get this time of year,” said Nikki Ross, executive director of Table to Table.
These potatoes, Ross said, were grown last season but had remained unsold. She said nothing is wrong with the produce, which she described as retail quality. The truckload is worth roughly $25,000.
Ross said the donation held a dual purpose. For one, it gets potatoes to local organizations that help people in need. And for another, it diverts food from the landfill.
Organization’s growth makes large donations possible
Friday’s donation is part of a new initiative the organization launched to capture unclaimed food from the food transportation industry, Ross said. She explained the organization previously didn’t have the capacity or staffing to receive donations this large.
The organization in recent years has increased staffing and moved into a location at 1049 U.S. Hwy. 6 East.
Ross said they’ve also established a partnership with Lineage Logistics, a cold storage company in Iowa City that can receive donations on behalf of Table to Table.
Marquis Heard, AmeriCorps local produce recovery coordinator with Table to Table, said a lot of coordination and planning went into receiving the large donation.
The first part was determining how to receive the actual donation as they didn’t have a vehicle large enough to transport the entire load. Then they had to plan out how to distribute the potatoes.
Despite this challenge, Heard said he was excited to receive the donation.
“Being able to start taking on larger donations is really cool because I feel like we've kind of gotten pretty good at collecting the food around here and in Johnson County,” Heard said. “So anytime we can take the opportunity to get food from elsewhere and help supply it is awesome.”
Volunteers repackage produce to distribute locally
Staff from Table to Table and volunteers from United Way of Johnson & Washington Counties and 5224Good — about 20 people in all — helped move the potatoes from large pallet boxes to smaller boxes that will be sent to 43 other food access partner organizations in Johnson County.
United Way volunteer Tom Banta said his wife told him about the opportunity to volunteer, and he decided to help.
“We're all blessed with certain things, and there's a lot of people that don't have a secure meal every night,” he said. “And so if this is going to help to give someone else that security going forward, then I'd love to be a part of that. But generally it's just the right thing to do.”
Anne Suter was another volunteer working Friday afternoon. She said her family has been involved with Table to Table for years, and the work the organization does is important.
“I know lots and lots of people in the community are going to benefit from this and that's, you know, do your bit, help out, be a positive part of your community and to help others out,” she said.
Packaging will continue, free produce stands planned
Of the 58,000 pounds of potatoes received, Ross said 18,000 pounds were packaged on Friday. Of those repackaged potatoes, the Coralville Food Pantry and the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program food reservoir based in Hiawatha received 6,000 and 9,000 pounds respectively.
Ross said the remaining potatoes will be packaged over the next few weeks.
Volunteers from local organizations also arrived to pick up potatoes, including Emily Sinnwell, co-founder of Iowa City Catholic Worker, and Ninoska Campos, member of Esucha Mi Voz.
Both said their organizations would be distributing the potatoes to those most in need.
Allison Gnade, programs and service manager at Table to Table, said she was glad Table to Table was able to help local organizations with some of their needs.
With the amount of potatoes on hand, Ross said organizations were welcome to take as much as they wanted.
Table to Table is planning to host produce stands so the public can pick up potatoes, too. Ross said that plan isn’t finalized, so she doesn’t know where the stands will be held. Regardless, she encouraged people to use these stands and take home some potatoes.
Comments: alejandro.rojas@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters