T-R PHOTOS BY LANA BRADSTREAM Rotary Club of Marshalltown member Sandy Short and Marshalltown Police Department Detective Paul Heitman place some donations into a squad car during the Arresting Hunger Food Drive on Saturday. Heitman and Short were in front of Fareway part of the morning and afternoon.

Marshalltown residents displayed their generosity during the annual Arresting Hunger Food Drive.

Held in front of Fareway Meat and Grocery and Hy-Vee on Saturday, the drive brings the Marshalltown Police Department and the Rotary Club of Marshalltown together to gather food for the Emergency Food Box and the Salvation Army. The goal was to fill the squad cars with groceries.

MPD Detective Paul Heitman, who started the drive in 2014, was impressed with the donations people gave. Within the first two hours of the four-hour drive, one woman pulled up in her vehicle, he said, and gave “boxes upon boxes” of various items.

“We’ve had a couple of huge grocery carts come out [of Fareway,] as well,” Heitman said. “Fareway was also collecting over the week, so they had a huge grocery cart, too. We’ve had a lot of good-sized donations.”

Numerous Marshalltown residents gave donations to the annual Arresting Hunger Food Drive. Marshalltown Police Department squad cars were in front of HyVee and Fareway, as the goal was to fill the vehicles with food.

He said while a specific goal was not determined, they would like to beat the 2024 donation amount. Last year, 920 pounds of food was given, along with $2,200.

“We try to one-up every year,” Heitman said. “We’ve had great success every year with the numbers, even if money might be down a little one year, the food will pick up. There is a shift in the balance. We’ll either get more money and a little less food or more food and less money. I don’t think I’ve seen, over the years, where both the money and food go up at the same time.”

According to the MPD officer, Arresting Hunger has become a tradition in Marshalltown. People will ask him the date for the upcoming drive and start preparing.

“People are jumping the gun and excited about it, which is great,” Heitman said. “It lets me know people are anticipating this event, and they look forward to it every year, which is phenomenal for people to feel that way about something like this.”

MPD Officer Jose Solorio was in front of Hy-Vee, collecting donations, and said it was his first Arresting Hunger food drive.

“I think it’s great and it gets you out of that aspect of just patrolling,” he said. “It gets you more involved in your community, people are approaching you. It’s been fun and people have been generous.”

Numerous Marshalltown residents gave donations to the annual Arresting Hunger Food Drive. Marshalltown Police Department squad cars were in front of HyVee and Fareway, as the goal was to fill the vehicles with food.

Rotary member Robert Moore stood alongside Solorio, accepting financial donations. He said it went rather well, with some residents even dropping $20 bills into the bucket. For the first time this year, Moore said Hy-Vee cashiers gave customers the option of rounding up their grocery bill, and giving that donation to Arresting Hunger.

“I’m glad to do it,” he said. “Obviously the Food Box does such a great job for the community.”

Heitman called the food drive his “brain child,” and kicked it off during his second year with the MPD. He was inspired by a similar event at the Oelwein Police Department, where he was employed previously. When the officers were asked to think of more community projects, he discovered there wasn’t a Marshalltown food drive in the summer.

“I brought it to my supervisor’s attention, and he said it would be a great idea, and I should run with it,” Heitman said. “Here we are 12 years later. It’s doing well.”

With the increasing rate of food insecurity, he would like to expand Arrest Hunger and get other businesses involved. It’s a matter of getting people on board and interested in hosting the event on their property, Heitman said.

“I’d like to possibly maybe find two, three, four other properties who want to host an event like this, and maybe help contribute to other food drives on a later date,” he said.

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.