2016 Imagine Enough for Everyone MLK Day event
Thanks to everyone who came to the Imagine Enough for Everyone event at the Urbandale Library this year! We collected 1,413 items for the Urbandale Food Pantry (including the items brought to the Library’s Food for Fines program after 2pm)! The final totals are: 641 personal care items, 357 (mostly) handmade warm items (our biggest number ever!), 415 food items, and $224 in monetary donations. Over 125 people attended on a very cold day between 9am to 2pm!
We had a lot of knitters stay and knit this year—it was fun to see the big group gathered in a circle. Even the front table volunteers were knitting! In addition, we had several people working on cozy fleece scarves and a baby blanket. We also collected 40 cards of hope that attendees and volunteers colored. Those will be handed out to Pantry visitors in the days ahead. A few people pledged to take action this year to confront hunger and food insecurity by donating food to different places and growing food in their garden for others. Thank you all!
Many VISTA/AmeriCorps volunteers from around the metro and Iowa helped staff the event, as well as a local high school student and other local volunteers of various ages. Thank you to the many volunteers who pitched in to help make this event a success. We couldn’t make the event work without you!
And as always, a big thank you to the Urbandale Public Library, especially Janine and Lynnae, for opening their meeting rooms for our event, helping with logistics as needed, and providing welcome hospitality. We love the Urbandale Public Library!