As we observed Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service yesterday, Ruan team members paid tribute by donating transportation services for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank’s (NEIFB) Pack the Dome event at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, IA. Pack the Dome is NEIFB’s largest food packaging event of the year with over 1,500 volunteers who pack bags for their Backpack Program. This program serves 4,100 children at 159 different schools across northeast Iowa each month. Before school dismisses for the weekend, children receive assembled bags of kid-friendly meals and snacks.
This is our second year providing transportation for this event, led by Ruan’s Dedicated Transportation Manager Lucas Steele, who helped coordinate our drivers and trucks. Ruan transported juice boxes, soup cans, protein bars, fruit snacks, and packaged pasta to the dome to be packaged and then hauled pallets of food packs back to the NEIFB once the event was finished. Thank you to our drivers for getting the job done in -10 degree weather!
“This year we played a larger role because we were the only transportation solution for the event,” Steele said. “They relied on us to get their supplies brought in and completed bags transported once the event wrapped up. In addition to this event, we hauled four trailers a month for NEIFB from Minneapolis to their facility with perishable items. We look forward to continuing our partnership in the future and expanding the role we play in helping feed our community.”
On top of providing transportation, seven Ruan team members from the Cedar Falls, IA, operation donated their time at Pack the Dome. Volunteers packed over 60,000 lunches for kids. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the only federal holiday that is also designated as a national day of service to honor Dr. King’s memory. This day encourages us to reflect on his life and legacy, and to take action to advance his vision for a better society.
We are proud to serve our communities across the country as part of our commitment to philanthropy. Thank you to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank for all you do for our community and to all volunteers who participated in another successful event. We are honored to be a part of Pack the Dome 2024!