“This is the first time we’ve partnered with Aurora and we wanted to focus on veterans,” Sarah Bradley, vice president of The Outreach Program, said on Wednesday, March 20, while standing inside Aurora Agronomy’s small office area in Traer as a team of employees worked to pack 2,700 meals for Iowa veterans.

Sarah, a Traer resident who is married to Aurora’s Traer location manager, LeRoy Bradley, said her Union, Iowa nonprofit applied for a $1,000 Aurora Cooperative grant and, in turn, connected with another local partner to help distribute the meals – Traer-based active duty military/veterans/first responders organization Frontlines United Inc.

Frontlines United’s president and co-founder, veteran Ian Wheeldon, also works for Aurora Agronomy.

“We’re all within the Aurora family,” Sarah said with a smile.

Aurora Agronomy Traer location employees work to pack apple cinnamon oatmeal for area veterans on Wednesday, March 20, in Traer.

Per The Outreach Program’s website, “Food insecure people are those that at some point during the week literally don’t know where their next meal is coming from.”

Just under 13% of the population in Tama County is considered food insecure, according to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap web tool. Also according to Feeding America, one in nine working-age veterans are food insecure; 24% of active-duty service members were food insecure in 2020; and 1.2 million low-income veterans use SNAP (food stamps). One of the main causes of food insecurity for military families is low pay.

During the Aurora Agronomy meal-packing event, employees worked in assembly line fashion to put together apple cinnamon oatmeal pouches – one of 10 options available – for veterans in Tama, Marshall, and Black Hawk counties.

The meals will last approximately two years and do not require any additional ingredients beyond boiled water to prepare.

“[But] the sooner we can get them out, the better,” Wheeldon said of the meals. “We’ve got 10 people on our board and they’re reaching out. One of the main places [we hope to distribute] is the (Iowa) Veterans Home. [We’re also contacting] county VSOs [Veterans Service Offices].”

Ian Wheeldon, center, places a scoop of dried apple into a funnel on March 20 at Aurora Agronomy in Traer during a meal packing event facilitated by The Outreach Program.

While the meals are simple to prepare, they are packed with protein.

“They taste yummy but they’re also good for you,” Sarah explained.

After briefly pausing for a group photo in LeRoy’s office, the volunteers including Wheeldon went right back to work on the assembly line in hopes of completing the task in just over an hour.

“It’s a great way to get involved in their local community,” Sarah said.

For more information on meal distribution to veterans, contact Wheeldon at 619-952-4113, or info@frontlinesunitedinc.org.