Ruan at Pack the Dome: Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Event

Jan 21, 2026

Ruan’s Cedar Falls, IA, operation proudly supported the Northeast Iowa Food Bank’s (NEIFB) Pack the Dome event held annually on Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day. This day is the only federal holiday that is also designated as a National Day of Service to honor Dr. King’s memory. MLK Day encourages us to reflect on his life and legacy, and to take action to advance his vision for a better society.

As the largest food packaging event of the year for NEIFB, over 1,900 volunteers were on-site to support the Backpack Program, which served 3,440 children at 155 schools across northeast Iowa each week during 2025. Before school dismisses for the weekend or holidays, children receive assembled bags of kid-friendly meals and snacks to keep them sustained at home.

This is Ruan’s fourth year providing transportation for this event, led by Ruan’s Dedicated Transportation Manager, Chris Graham, who helped coordinate our drivers and trucks. Three Ruan truck drivers moved 10 reefer trailers of product from the food bank and transported them to the University of Northern Iowa’s dome, where they were staged and unloaded for packing. Once the backpacks were filled, the drivers loaded the completed product and transported it back to the food bank. Volunteers packed over 70,000 backpacks to keep kids fed in the upcoming year.

 

“The Cedar Falls team was honored again this year to provide support to NEIFB’s Backpack Program,” Graham said. “With local support, we helped surpass NEIFB’s goal of 60,000 packaged meals. What an amazing way to spend MLK Day of Service!”

 

 

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, including our incredible team in Cedar Falls, who helped make another successful event.

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