Washington Clover Kids donate meal bags to kick off 4-H food drive

Washington Clover Kid members donated 90 food items at their November club meeting which prepared seven complete meal bags to help kick off the Iowa 4-H Food Drive for Washington County.

During the month of November, Washington County Extension will be accepting food donations for the HACAP food bank and are especially inviting donors to give toward their Meal-in-a-Bag effort. Washington County 4-H has selected a recipe from ISU Healthy & Homemade cookbook to help direct food donations. In turn, Washington County Extension will sort and package the items so they will be complete meal-in-a-bag. Anyone receiving a bag from HACAP will have the recipe and all the ingredients for a healthy and homemade meal.

'We hope this meal-in-a-bag will encourage families to cook and eat together as well as provide ease of having all the ingredients provided,” said 4-H coordinator Amy Green. 'Meal planning, shopping and cupboard searching can be frustrating parts of cooking the healthy meal for your family and this bag should make at least one meal easier for a family.”

4-H emphasizes the importance of civic engagement and being positive and productive citizens of a community. This is one opportunity for Washington County 4-H members, volunteers and families to be a part of giving and serving. Food items being collected for this meal-in-a-bag include: canned chicken, chili powder, canned black beans, canned corn, salsa, tortillas, and cooking spray.

All community members are welcome to donate to this project at the Washington County Extension Office until Dec. 1. For more information on Washington County 4-H or this project, contact the Washington County Extension Office at 319-653-4811.