Food, like twinkling lights and carefully wrapped presents, is a major component of the holiday season.

At family meals across the area, dining room tables will be just about creaking under the weight of all kinds of good things to eat. But unfortunately, not everyone can afford even a modest holiday meal.

Two Iowa companies recently stepped up to ease the burden for families struggling to put food on the table.Their efforts got thousands of pounds of meat to thousands of Iowans, including many in the Fort Dodge area.

The first of those efforts, Operation Christmas Meal, was conducted by Iowa Select Farms and the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation. Earlier this month, those organizations distributed five pound pork loins to people in Eagle Grove, Fort Dodge, Gilmore City, Laurens, Sac City and West Bend, plus other communities across the state.

Then last week, NEW Cooperative conducted its annual Hams for Hunger effort. It is an initiative that has been conducted every year since 2018. Well over 10,000 hams have been distributed since that time.

This year, NEW Cooperative teamed up with Land O’Lakes for the effort. That partnership made it possible to distribute 4,500 hams. Many of those hams went to organizations that help people in need. Locally, they went to Families First Counseling Services, First Covenant Church, St. Paul Lutheran Church and Upper Des Moines Opportunity.

Iowa Select Farms, the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation, NEW Cooperative and Land O’Lakes didn’t have to do this hunger-fighting effort. And yet they did. We thank them for their dedication to our neighbors who need some help.

All of that meat would not reach the people who need it without the efforts of many volunteers who braved some brisk winter temperatures to accomplish the mission. We thank them for their dedication to the cause.