Burger King teams up with local food bank

As customers order a Whopper or a variety of other meals from Burger King in the Indiana Memorial Union this week, they will have the opportunity to donate to Hoosier Hills Food Bank.\nJunior Brianna Zoll donated her loose change simply by rounding her Burger King purchase to the nearest dollar.\n“I think everybody deserves to be helped out when they need it,” Zoll said.\nThe collection started Monday morning at Burger King and will finish at 2 p.m. Thursday. On Monday, Burger King raised about $150 and hopes to raise at least $400 by the end of the week, said Holly Parient, Burger King store manager.\n“The students on campus are very accepting of it,” Parient said.\nHoosier Hills Food Bank serves individuals in Monroe, Martin, Brown, Owen, Orange and Lawrence counties. Hoosier Hills collects food and makes it available to 85 organizations throughout the community, including the Boys and Girls Club and Middle Way House, said Dan Taylor, assistant director of Hoosier Hills Food Bank.\n“We run an organization willing to collect food and sort food,” Taylor said. “Those agencies can then take the food they need. We go to grocery stores everyday to buy food.”\nIMU Dining Services also held Cans Across America last November during which 3,500 pounds of food were collected for Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Parient said.\n“We wanted community involvement to help feed the hungry,” Parient said. “We wanted to do something to raise a little bit of money and cause awareness.”\nThe Dietetics Club on campus is also collecting food for Hoosier Hills by placing barrels around campus, Taylor said. Hoosier Hills expects about 200 pounds of food from barrels at the Union, Ballantine Hall and the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation building, Taylor said. Since the HPER was closed over break, that barrel didn’t receive any donations, but the barrel in the Student Recreational Sports Center has started to receive donations, said sophomore Kimberley Lance, a member of the Dietetics Club. The barrels will be out until March 31.\n“We wanted to do this mainly to help those in need,” Lance said. “They give food ... in big packages to people who don’t have food.”\nHoosier Hills also conducts a prepared-food rescue everyday from the IMU. If the food services have made more food than they were able to serve, Hoosier Hills re-packages the food so they can provide it to other organizations.