Janet's Story

“The food bank captures my heart,” Janet Locke said.

Days before Thanksgiving, Janet and 421 fellow volunteers distributed holiday food at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.

A retired first-grade teacher from Waterloo, Janet spends three days a week at the food bank’s on-site pantry, in between her duties as a grandmother.

Every now and again, she sees one of her former students receiving food. “We visit for just a minute, and they catch me up on what they’re doing,” she said.

During the holidays, these interactions take on special meaning.

“It’s a complete meal for the holiday,” she said. She loves to imagine her former students gathering around the Thanksgiving Day table with their families.

Janet knows from her years of teaching that “parents do their very best with what they have to help their families.”

“It's really easy to judge, but you don't know people's circumstances,” she said.

Janet remembers many first-grade students who came to school hungry. “I taught in high poverty schools my whole career. And I know the need kids and families have,” she said. “Those are the kids that really touch my heart.”

Every Friday, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank holds a produce pantry for families to receive fresh milk, fruits, and vegetables. They also distribute children’s books, which Janet loves because she gets “to see their eyes light up” just like she remembers as a teacher.

Janet said she volunteers because she wants to feel connected to her community and to make sure people know about the resources that are available to them.

For the big holiday distribution, she worked three back-to-back shifts, spending six hours organizing food in the pantry and then transferring groceries to cars.

She said what keeps her going is “the joy that you get through volunteering.”

Every week, the food bank helps replace the daily structure she misses as a teacher. “I know it’s a help when I volunteer, she said, “but it helps me a lot, too.”