Supervisor Harney Coordinates Beef Purchase for Crisis Center

From Johnson County

For the third year in a row, Johnson County Supervisor Patrick Harney has harnessed the power of modest donations to make a substantial purchase. With the help of 19 local businesses, Harney made the winning bid on a reserve champion cow at the 2013 Johnson County Fair Animal Auction, as a donation to The Crisis Center of Johnson County Food Bank.

“This is a great way to help people in our community as well as support the Johnson County 4-H program and youth,” Harney said. “The businesses really appreciate the chance to be part of this group and make a difference for people in need.”

The animal was owned and shown by Cole Miller of Solon during the fair and weighed 1,005 pounds. It was purchased for $1,813 and a local processor packaged the high-quality meat into 316 one-pound portions of ground beef.

Harney and his wife, Jean, made their own contribution and Harney secured additional financial support from Big Country Seeds, Billion Auto, Deery Brothers Ford Lincoln, Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank, First Trust & Savings of Coralville and Oxford, Four Seasons Car Wash, Great Western Bank, Hills Bank & Trust, HyVee Stores of Coralville and Iowa City, Insurance Associates, King's Material Inc, Linder Tire Services Inc, MidWest One Bank, River Products Inc, Ruzicka’s Meat Processing, Slager Appliance, Stutsman’s Inc., University of Iowa Community Credit Union and US Bank.
“It’s unusual that we have the opportunity to provide ground beef for our clients," said Stefanie Bell, Crisis Center Food Bank coordinator. "Canned meat is the most economical option when we are using donated funds to make bulk food purchases. It's wonderful to have the option of fresh meat.” Bell also noted that with the Food Bank serving nearly 1,000 families each week, the packages of beef were distributed within just a few days.

“This is a time-consuming project for Supervisor Harney each year and we appreciate his coordination efforts to help provide beef to our Food Bank clients," said Becci Reedus, executive director of The Crisis Center. “We love these kind of 'out of the box' ideas and seeing the cooperation among many organizations to make a big project like this happen. Donations like this one have a huge impact on the families we are serving.”

The Crisis Center has been helping residents of Johnson County since 1970. In addition to food pantry services, the organization offers the emotional support through the 24-Hour Crisis Line and IowaCrisisChat.org, suicide prevention and intervention, support groups for survivors of suicide, emergency financial assistance, disaster recovery and other community programs. Visit The Crisis Center's website atwww.jccrisiscenter.org. The Crisis Center wants to be your first call in Johnson County.