Information provided by the Indiana Soybean Alliance

Photo Credit: ISA

Indiana corn and soybean farmers are teaming up with the Indianapolis Colts throughout the 2014-15 football season to help stop hunger. As part of their efforts, the Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC) and Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) joined the Colts on Nov. 18 to support Indianapolis’ fourth annual Kids Against Hunger of Central Indiana “Million Meal Marathon.”

The event took place at Lucas Oil Stadium and brought more than 4,200 volunteers together to help pack more than one million meals. Volunteers packed meals that will be distributed through Gleaners, Midwest Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Indiana to help end hunger for the one in four Hoosier children who are food insecure. The meal packets consist of rice, soy, vitamins and dehydrated vegetables.

In addition to supporting the Million Meal Marathon, the goal of ISA and ICMC’s partnership with the Colts is to raise money to feed enough Indiana children to fill Lucas Oil Stadium. That’s 65,000 meals. For every defensive tackle the Colts make during the season, $10 is donated to Kids Against Hunger.

“We are really happy that this year Kids Against Hunger is expanding its efforts to help feed hungry families right here in Indiana, with all of the meals that were packed this year going directly to food banks across Indiana,” said Joe Steinkamp, ISA vice president from Evansville, Ind. “Being able to keep these meals in the state to help hungry Hoosiers really works in tandem with our partnership with Kids Against Hunger and the Colts, as well as the meals FFA chapters are taking back to their local communities today.”

Colts defensive end Cory Redding, spokesperson for the Colts and Indiana Corn and Soybean’s “Hoosier Horsepower” program, kicked off the Million Meal Marathon by packing meals with 200 FFA students from nine schools across the state and the Indiana FFA State Officer Team.

“I’m proud to partner with Indiana’s corn and soybean farmers to feed hungry kids,” said Redding. “I don’t think any kid should go to bed hungry. Events like the Million Meal Marathon help us get closer to that goal.”

The nine FFA chapters chosen by ISA and ICMC to participate in the event included Franklin, Twin Lakes, Benton Central, Shakamak, Whiteland, Southwestern Shelby, Beech Grove, Hoosier Hills and West Noble.

During the two-hour shift, the FFA members helped pack more than 250,000 meals. For the second year, the FFA chapters participating in the Million Meal Marathon also took home meals to donate to their local food pantries.

“Our partnership with the Indianapolis Colts not only connects Hoosiers with the farmers across the state producing the food we eat every day, but it also allows our farmers to give back to our communities through donations to Kids Against Hunger during the football season,” said Dennis Maple, ICMC president from Greentown, Ind. “We are very proud to have FFA members – the future of our agriculture industry – involved in this project. It’s really meaningful for these FFA members to then be able to take part of their hard work back home with them in the form of meals for their local food pantries.”

Fans may visit www.colts.com/farmsmatter to learn more about the program and to contribute to team’s efforts.