The South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation presented a check of $303,622 to Feeding South Dakota on Thursday at its distribution center in hopes of helping the nonprofit’s mission of ending hunger across the state.
Ryan Eichler, president of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation, opened the event by highlighting the Foundation’s history of partnering with Feeding South Dakota, which began in 2013 when the Foundation was established.
“Our aim was not only to highlight the charitable giving of our industry, to promote the role of being in a healthy diet but what it really was to give back to South Dakota communities and really work hard to promote this industry and really the role it plays in our communities as well,” Eichler said.
Why the Foundation is a ‘natural fit’:
Eicher said partnering with Feeding South Dakota, the largest provider of charitable food in the state, was “a natural fit” given the Cattlemen’s Foundation is a food producer in the beef industry, one of the largest agricultural industries in the state according to research from the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
“When we started this project in 2014, Feeding South Dakota, delivered roughly 12 and a half million pounds of food throughout the state, and only about 4% of that was protein,” Eichler said. “As protein producers, we saw it as our opportunity to help improve the quality of diet that Feeding South Dakota delivered to these communities, and they’ve done such a tremendous job of delivering that value to people who really need it.”
Lori Dykstra, Feeding South Dakota’s CEO of three years, expressed how grateful she and her team are for the Foundation and donors who help provide food for those in need, especially given that September is Hunger Action Month.
“This goes to our families, our children, our seniors who are hungry in our state,” Dykstra said.
CEO understands the struggle
Dykstra personally knows this struggle when her family needed to utilize food services from time to time as a child.
“There were times when we had to get help from the community, and we were so fortunate that the community was willing to help us,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of that.”
Growing up on a farm, Dykstra said is thrilled for Feeding South Dakota to partner with the Cattlemen’s Foundation, especially when it comes to more rural areas.
“It’s just so incredible because our farmers, our ranchers, our producers, they care about their neighbors, just like we all do, and knowing that their dollars are going to purchase beef and also going back into their on their neighbors’ tables that maybe need it the most,” Dykstra said. Dykstra said more than 106,000 people in South Dakota struggle with food insecurity and one out of every six of them is a child.
A closer look at the data
This year, Feeding South Dakota distributed 11.7 million meals and served 12,772 families monthly through the Mobile Food Distribution Program, according to data from Feeding South Dakota’s Marketing and Communications Coordinator Bodey Behrends.
“The need has continued to increase,” Dykstra said. “We’re actually higher now than COVID-19 pandemic numbers and the 2008 recession.”
Since 2014, the Foundation has raised $2,720,044 million for Feeding South Dakota to purchase more than 1.5 million pounds of quality beef and distribute it to those in need across the state, according to Eichler.
The funds are raised annually during the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation Prime Time Gala & Concert, organized by The Event Company. The Foundation’s 11th event was held in late June at the Denny Sanford Premier Center. The gala consisted of a live and silent auction, a Beef Banquet, raffle ticket sales and performances from country music artists Parker McCollum, Warren Zeiders and Dell Rapids native turned Nashville star, Julie Eddy.
This year, more than 2,000 people attended the banquet and about 7,400 people attended the concert.
“We continue to set records every year,” Eichler said.
What’s next?
Next year, the 12th Annual Prime Time Gala & Concert will be held June 21 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center and Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. More details will be provided on the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation website.
The Cattlemen’s Foundation continues to give back in other ways including a scholarship program, the Fed Cattle Challenge program and other educational programming that provides resources and research opportunities. “
“We fund undergraduate research at South Dakota State University, and for the first time, we will actually be funding human nutrition research to look at beef’s role in a healthy diet,” said Eichler. “We’re really excited to keep growing our scope as a foundation and making an impact at home, but with this increased focus on research is also making a bigger impact across the United States.”
Feeding South Dakota also partners with shelters and services for those in need statewide, including the Bishop Dudley House, The Banquet, Union Gospel Mission, Faith in Action and many others.
Dykstra said the organization is starting to look at how they can help “on a deeper level” by collaborating more with other partners to help find root causes of poverty in urban and rural communities.
“That’s also why I wanted to be a part of this mission,” Dykstra said. ”I want to be a part of the solutions, not just continuing to feed the line.”
How you can help:
Community members can also find ways to give back by volunteering their time, resources and/or dollars. Food drives are also great at educating the public, Dykstra said.
“My mom, Jean, always said, ‘There’s always room at the table for one more.’ And I personally just still live by that,” Dykstra said. “It’s not uncommon to come to our house at Thanksgiving, at my parent’s house and have somebody joining our meal who is not part of our family here.”