By Bruce Karnick [email protected]

School bus drivers have a strange day. They start very early, checking their bus for safety, getting everything clean and warmed up, then picking up kids and bringing them to school. But that only lasts so long, which means they have a long break between their morning and afternoon routes. What do drivers do with their time? Some volunteer to help Hastings United Way and their Food 4 Kids program.

Food 4 Kids feeds aver 150 kids in Hastings each week which means someone needs to shop, haul, and ultimately, assemble, bags of food for these kids to take home. Big River Bus Company did just that. Employees worked on packaging over 350 bags of food for kids during their downtime in the middle of the day.

“We originally asked United Way if they needed help back in December,” explained terminal manager Cindy Lyon. “Amy Schaffer pointed out that they really needed help in January, so here we are, bagging food in January.”

Schaffer is the heart and soul behind the Food 4 Kids program in Hastings, a program she is passionate about. She’s also the perfect person to be the face of the program – always high energy, happy, excited and positive with anyone that donates, regardless of the donation amount. Volunteer to help her and you will make her week!

If your organization would like to help the Food 4 Kids program out, visit https://unitedwayofhastings.org/site/food-4-kids/ to donate or for contact information.

Photo by Bruce Karnick