McLean County farmer Gerald Thompson bags groceries at Cub Foods in Bloomington during National Agriculture Week. (Photo by Carrie Muehling/WJBC)

By Carrie Muehling

BLOOMINGTON - The McLean County Farm Bureau (MCFB) is helping to meet an important community need.

McLean County farmer Gerald Thompson was bagging groceries Tuesday at Cub Foods in Bloomington, and encouraging shoppers to purchase a donation coupon that would be used to purchase meat for the Midwest Food Bank.

“We’re just out trying to help generate funds for the food bank by providing a little bit of a service for people. Hopefully people can see the benefit and make a donation,” said Thompson.

Customers can purchase donation coupons for one, three or five dollars at Cub Foods during through Mar. 23. MCFB plans to match all donations up to a total of $500, with funds provided in part by a grant form the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. Thompson said the effort is also an opportunity to connect with consumers.

“Being able to come out and put a face with it is very important as we look to connect to the consumer, because people are getting further and further away from agriculture. It provides us an opportunity to show that we’re just like everybody else,” Thompson said.

Midwest Food Bank distributes food to 230 agencies and 70 of those are in McLean County. The food bank typically receives enough meat to provide a weekly meat donation to just five of those agencies.

Carrie Muehling can be reached at carrie@wjbc.com.