Food donations wanted at Idaho Falls parade

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - People attending the Fourth of July parade Saturday in Idaho Falls are being asked to bring non-perishable food items.

The Idaho Falls Community Food Basket, the interfaith community council, city officials and Local News 8 and Eyewitness News 3 will be collecting donations at the parade Saturday morning, said Ariel Jackson, the executive director for the Community Food Basket.

"The interfaith community has come together, they wanted to get all the churches back together and kind of spring out of Covid," Jackson said. "And they wanted to keep our warehouse full while we're raising money to pay it off. And so they'll be manning blocks and collecting food from people that they brought to the parade."

All the food donated will be stored in the Food Basket's 17,000 square foot warehouse, and given to other organizations if needed.

The need for food has gone up, Jackson said.

"During Covid, we were up quite a bit," Jackson said. "And we tapered off a little bit at the start of the summer, and we're seeing our numbers spike back up, as some of those government programs, those safety nets programs start to end, we anticipate our numbers will start to climb back up."

The Food Basket is also announcing a new challenge for the community; the four amigas challenge.

"So we got a loan to purchase our warehouse, and four anonymous wonderful women in town have come together and offered to match up to $100,000 in donations," Jackson said "So the potential is there for us to raise $200,000, so we can pay off the mortgage, and have a mortgage burning party, and move all of that funding towards programming."

Monetary donations can be made at the parade Saturday, as well as anytime through their website.