SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Iowa Media Wire) — Picking and cleaning up healthy produce kept several Morningside University students busy on Monday morning.
Fresh produce harvested from the Morningside University garden is being shared with the Food Bank of Siouxland.
Over the summer, students from the school’s Applied Agriculture and Food Studies program tended to the garden, donating to local pantries, including Grace United Methodist Church. But Monday, the Food Bank of Siouxland was benefiting.
“I would say the best thing we have going on right now is our students, they’re not afraid to get their hands dirty when they go to work,” Morningside learning coordinator Dee McKenna said. “They’re applying what they learn in the classroom out here and fighting a really important need in our community, and I always say, the best crop we have here today are our students.”
Donations included potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and corn. McKenna says the demand for food assistance is up locally: one in nine families are now considered food-insecure.