Iowa Giving Crew
Raising funds and marshaling resources within our collective networks to serve those in need throughout our community.
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ABOUT
Our non-profit organization has an unexpected origin that started with a prank in November 2017. A friend’s contact information was posted on Craigslist, claiming he was giving away free turkeys just before Thanksgiving—except he wasn’t. As you can imagine, he was bombarded with calls from people eager for a free turkey.
That moment sparked an idea and Operation Give Birds was born. We quickly realized there was a real need for assistance like this in our community. So, a group of friends came together, raised some funds, and decided to turn the prank into something positive by giving away meals that very Thanksgiving. From 85 meals in 2017 to a goal of 2,000 meals in 2024, we’ve come a long way!
From our origins with Operation Give Birds, Iowa Giving Crew has expanded to encompass three additional programs:
- Operation Give Birds – Thanksgiving meal kit giveaway program providing meal kits with all of the Thanksgiving fixings to feed at least 4 people. Pick-up locations have expanded to include Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Waterloo, and Dubuque. In 2023 1,500 kits were distributed.
- Operation Education – a grant program that aims to help supplement the fundraising ability of parent and teacher organizations. This program is targeted at individual schools with a higher than 60% free and reduced lunch population. The end goal is to bring equity to students who are disadvantaged and help promote the best learning experience possible.
- Operation Iowa Nice – Gap fill program that supports needs such as rental assistance, utility assistance, food & clothing needs, etc. to people who may not qualify for other programs.
- Operation Awareness -program to help support suicide awareness by contributing funds to our partner organization Foundation 2. Many of our members have been impacted by suicide in some way and want to be able to provide support to organizations that provide intervention and counseling services. This is a matching funds program, the IGC will match all donations up to $2000 that are made through our portal.
