Hy-Vee and United Way of Greater Fort Dodge teamed up to distribute a ton of watermelons to the Fort Dodge community.

Actually, the 2,000 fruits handed out probably weighed more than a ton.

Last week, Hy-Vee Stores Inc. had been approached by its watermelon distributor, SOL Melons, of Florida, wanting to donate fruit for distribution, Tim Flaherty, Fort Dodge Hy-Vee store director, said. Over the weekend, a Hy-Vee location in Kearney, Nebraska, held a similar distribution event with watermelons.

When Flaherty learned that Hy-Vee Fort Dodge would have a watermelon distribution event, he reached out to Randy Kuhlman, chief executive officer of the United Way of Greater Fort Dodge and Fort Dodge Community Foundation, to recruit volunteers for the distribution.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Mike McBride, of Fort Dodge, picks up a watermelon as his wife, Allison McBride, heads to the next car to hand the occupants a resource sheet on Tuesday morning at Hy-Vee. Hy-Vee and the United Way of Greater Fort Dodge teamed up with dozens of volunteers to hand out more than 2,000 free watermelons on Tuesday morning.

“Hy-Vee did a great job getting things organized,” Kuhlman said. “We had a great volunteer turn out. Fort Dodge has really responded so well and people wanted to help.”

On Tuesday morning, cars lined up in lanes set up in the Hy-Vee parking lot, while more than two dozen community volunteers stood ready, next to bins filled with the large watermelons. As the cars made their way down the lanes, volunteers placed large seedless watermelons in their trunks.

The volunteers also gave each family a flyer with lists of programs and resources available to Fort Dodge residents for things like food assistance, basic needs, mental health care, medical care and the Disaster Response Fund for Fort Dodge and Webster County.

Hy-Vee Stores is in the process of hosting a variety of different donation events throughout the eight states it operates in, said Rachael Tygby, Hy-Vee communications specialist.

“We have corn coming up, as well as carrots,” she said. “We’re just donating to our different communities and we’re also doing donations to our local food banks.”

With the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the demand and need for food assistance is greater than it’s ever been, Tygby said. Right now, the top need for food banks is fresh produce, she said, so Hy-Vee is also working with the food banks in its communities to provide them with more fresh produce.

“The need right now with so many people impacted financially by COVID-19, it’s just important that we give back in some way,” she said.

Flaherty was impressed with the turnout of volunteers to help with distributing the 2,000 watermelons.

“I think it’s incredible,” he said. “It would have been very hard for Hy-Vee without all the volunteers. Our community is wonderful.”