Five Western Illinois county farm bureaus are helping restock local food pantries. The effort is called “Bushels for Hunger” where farmers donate bushels of corn and soybeans at participating grain elevators. Those proceeds in turn go to the River Bend Food Bank–based in Moline, which serves food panties in 22 Western Illinois and Eastern Iowa counties. Producers were very generous again this year says Rock Island County Farm Bureau Manager DeAnne Bloomberg.
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In addition to Rock Island County, the Mercer, Stark, Henry and Whiteside County Farm Bureaus also participate in the program, which raised $9,500 in the first year.