Iowa Pork, Fareway Serve Up Bacon and Hope on Giving Tuesday

Dec 08, 2025

Community leaders, Fareway Stores, and the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) joined Central Iowa Shelter & Services (CISS) today for the ninth annual Giving Tuesday breakfast, preparing and serving hundreds of warm meals to individuals experiencing homelessness across three Iowa communities.

The early-morning event brought volunteers to CISS in Des Moines, while additional meals were distributed at The Bridge Home in Ames and the Empowerment Command Center in Grinnell.

IPPA also provided hundreds of backpacks filled with stocking hats, socks, and pork sticks.

"Food insecurity and homelessness remain real challenges for too many Iowans," said Chris Bellcock, regional director for the Iowa Pork Producers Association. "Giving Tuesday allows us to demonstrate through actions, not just words, how much Iowa's pig farmers care about their communities."

Fareway contributed a full breakfast spread, including 1,200 slices of bacon, 50 pounds of sausage patties, 132 pounds of eggs, 1,050 pancakes, fresh fruit, milk, juice, coffee, and more.

“Giving Tuesday is a powerful reminder of the impact we can make when we come together as a community. Fareway is proud to partner with the Iowa Pork Producers and Central Iowa Shelter & Services for this annual breakfast event, serving individuals with gratitude who rely on the shelter during the cold season,” said Reynolds Cramer, CEO of Fareway Stores, Inc. “It’s an honor to stand alongside these organizations in providing warmth, nourishment, and hope.”

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Video: We Let Dad Drive a 50,000 Pound Dump Truck

There's old hog barns under that field now. The old hog barn site on the farm has been sitting there for decades, and this is the week it finally came out: concrete pad, burn pile, charred lumber, all of it loaded into a CAT 725C rock truck and buried in a pit we dug back in the timber.

Tork's been waiting his whole life to drive one of these, so he gets the keys to a 50,000 pound rock truck and I ride shotgun. The excavator loads, the dozer clears the timber, the drone shows the whole site from above, and by sundown there's nothing left of the old place but a smooth patch of dirt. It's a weird feeling erasing something that was here before either of us, but the farm has to keep moving.