SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Outside the downtown Sioux Falls library, volunteers are helping unload all kinds of food donations. But inside, even more volunteers are sorting the food, as well as strengthening their community.
“It just helps you feel like you’re not alone. So, seeing the community show up and support this effort, when we’re really just trying to get food in the hands of people that need it, has been really encouraging,” said Andrew Cedergren, a local organizer for 50501 South Dakota.
The donations from Saturday’s drive are going to Feeding South Dakota.
“The exciting thing about their organization is that not only are they going to benefit people locally here, but they’re also going to be giving this food to people in frontier and rural counties that don’t have food drives,” said Cedergren.
50501 worked with Indivisible 605 to organize the event. But inspiration for the event runs even deeper than helping those in need.
“This food drive that we’re doing today just came about, I think, because there are many, many federal government programs for food assistance that have been defunded,” said Mike Brooke, advisory board member for Indivisible 605.
Brooke says these changes make food drives like this one even more important.
“Most of us obviously have enough to eat and kind of take that for granted. But there are many of our friends and neighbors who really don’t,” said Brooke.
