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Supermarket Sweep donates over $3,400 of groceries to The Fellowship Cup
Participation doubles in Henry County Farm Bureau’s Third Annual Supermarket Sweep
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MT. PLEASANT — Henry County Farm Bureau’s third annual Supermarket Sweep brought a surge of energy to Hy-Vee in Mt. Pleasant on Friday morning and over $3,400 worth of groceries donated to The Fellowship Cup.
With nine teams participating, up from three or four in previous years, the event exceeded all expectations and ensured its place as a returning tradition during National Ag Week for Henry County Farm Bureau.
“We decided this year we were going to try it one last time,” Farm Bureau board member Sabrina Pidgeon said. “And if we were really struggling … we were going to find a different community service project.”
The effort, however, paid off, and Pidgeon could be overheard expressing her overwhelming excitement for just how well the third annual Supermarket Sweep turned out on March 21.
“Holy Cow! What a success this year was! It makes me so happy!” Pidgeon said.
The shopping challenge — in which teams raced to fill carts as close to $250 as possible without going over in just five minutes — saw standout performances, enthusiastic participation, and clever cart decorations.
Farm Credit Services of America took home the “Closest to $250” title for the second year in a row with a cart totaling $259.90. When asked about their secret to winning the traveling trophy for the second year in a row, Jason Lietchy quickly jumped in claiming it was a secret.
Other teams took a different approach. First-year participants Sigma shattered records by bringing in a total of $1,387.74 worth of donations — more than the entire event total last year. This earned them the title of Greatest Grabber.
“Sigma just kept bringing carts up. They had like five going out,” Farm Bureau Board President Mike Yaley said. “They’re not really worried about hitting $250.”
Sigma Division Vice President Brad Wade joked that his team was not every good at math, but they did bring the best shoppers.
“Sigma is really big into the community so, we’re really happy to do this,” Wade said before he and his team rolled their five overflowing carts outside to donate to The Fellowship Cup.
According to Yaley, Sigma’s donation is the largest seen at this event to-date.
Continental earned “Best Decorated Cart” honors, showing off products the company manufactures locally.
“I’m not sure everyone knows it but we make all type of hoses,” Continental’s Flavia Benedicto explained this as the reason their team decided to decorate their cart with these products.
Asked if they had a strategy going in, a team member said they watched the first group carefully when they went, then strategized to give each person on their team a specific job.
“It was very good,” Benedicto said. “We’ll be better next year. This is our first time. We're excited to come back for sure.”
Other teams participating in the event included Iowa State Bank, Anywear Apparel, Hy-Vee, the Henry County Sheriff's Office (shopping on behalf of Sinclair Tractor), and Chem Gro (represented by board members).
Board members’ children — the “junior shoppers” — made up the ninth team this year as they pushed carts and chose items to donate.
“I put all the noodles,” Logan Schinstock proudly declared.
While enthusiasm certainly radiated from the youngest shoppers, they weren’t exactly sure where their goodies were going. They just knew, they would help someone, and it was a blast running through the store.
While the event was full of lighthearted fun, its purpose was clear.
“This is a great turnout, obviously for a great cause,” Farm Bureau Board President Mike Yaley said. “We had a lot better turnout, and it was fun.”
He noted that while the $250 shopping target made the event fun and competitive, but the real win was in coming together as a community to support The Fellowship Cup.
With shelves being emptied, Hy-Vee employees prepared ahead of time to meet the demand. Mt. Pleasant Hy-Vee Store Director Willy Amos noted that they work with Farm Bureau to host this event on a Friday so the store can stock the shelves with an extra-large truck order the day before.
“We had a pretty good-sized truck … so we were ready to go this morning,” Amos said. “We’ll have to walk the aisles and fill them back up after this, though.”
The Fellowship Cup Director Ken Brown expressed deep appreciation for the donations and community effort after participants received their awards.
“Thank you guys for doing this,” he said. “This is a time of concern for a lot of people in the community … and we just thank the whole community. What you guys do is make sure that we’re there for everybody, especially in these times of people just being unsure about what’s going on.”
As a public-facing celebration of agriculture during National Ag Week, the event is unique among the Farm Bureau’s calendar.
“This is our biggest event for Ag Week,” said Yaley. “We do a lot of these events throughout the year. This one’s a little bit more public than some.”
Board members say the challenge in past years hasn’t been enthusiasm — it’s been awareness.
“Last year, we didn’t have the participation,” Henry County Farm Bureau Outreach Coordinator Sarah Seitz said. “A lot of it’s probably on us — we organize it. So just getting the word out … there’s a lot of organizations that are more than happy to donate $250.”
As volunteers lined up for a group photo after the awards, the energy from the morning still buzzed.
“Hopefully every year we can just build on it and build on it,” Amos said. “Maybe we’ll have to have the store closed for a few hours in the morning next year — we have so many teams.”
Organizers said a date for next year’s event will be announced in early 2025. Until then, the Fellowship Cup will nestle these generous donations onto its shelves, thanks to the community showing up in full force for the third annual Supermarket Sweep in Mt. Pleasant.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com
