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Kruger Elevator Food Drive 2025
[December 27, 2025]
Tom Peifer has been holding an
annual food drive at the Kruger Elevator in Lincoln for the last
five years. The fifth year, Peifer was happy to share, was the
biggest year yet. Part of this was due to generous donations from
sources such as District 27 and the Beason Methodist Church. All
donations went to help fill and fund the Holy Family Food Pantry
located at Holy Family Catholic Church.
The food drive was held on December 9th, starting at 8:00 am and
went until noon. Peifer started this drive because food banks are
shut down for two weeks in December, he shared. The elevator donated
a trailer for all the food. Peifer also contacted Chrysler and Ford
about picking up food donations in their showrooms.
Peifer listed several notable donors, due to the size of their
donations. He started with Bloomington Meats, sharing that they had
donated eleven turkeys. Clark’s Transport had donated three cases of
apples, four cases of potatoes, two cases of lettuce, and one case
of tomatoes. Larry Hamlin donated a pickup truck load of canned
food. Graue Chevrolet donated food that had been purchased from
Lincoln’s IGA. Peifer’s daughter, Danielle Lora, also donated a
pickup truck load of food on behalf of Mt. Pulaski Grade School.
Imo’s Cafe donated 24 pumpkin pies, and District 27 donated food
leftover from a food drive that they had held earlier.
Kent Froebe, superintendent of District 27 schools, shared a bit
about this drive. According to Froebe, many of the District’s
families were affected during the recent government shutdown due to
SNAP benefits being temporarily suspended. “Having a food drive
throughout the district and then offering two pop-up pantries was
our small way of helping in our community,” Froebe wrote. In total,
5,257 items were collected for their drive, and Froebe shared his
pride in how the faculty and staff were able to help during a time
of need for many people.
Not all the items were claimed
during District 27’s two pop-up pantries, with many items being left
over. Froebe shared that all the bread items were donated to Logan
County Food Pantry, and with all of the other non-perishables being
donated to the Kruger Elevator Drive. According to Froebe, this
drive is one that the district has partnered with before.
Peifer was also accepting monetary
donations to help keep the Holy Family Food Pantry stocked. Peifer
stated that he collected $5,000 from various sources, but the
largest single donation came from Danny Uphoff on behalf of Beason
Methodist Church. The church recently closed, and in doing so, it
was looking for places to donate what money they had left. Both Holy
Family and Logan County food banks received a $10,000 donation.
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After the drive was over, all the
donations were taken to Holy Family. Peifer shared that the staff’s
eyes “beamed” when they saw how much had been donated. Peifer,
Uphoff, the manager and assistant manager at the elevator, Jeff
Elsas, Brandon Elsas, and Mitch Miller all met at the pantry to help
the staff unload the trailer of food. In all, Peifer stated that it
took about an hour to get everything unloaded and about four hours
for the staff to finish stocking the shelves.
The shelves were fully stocked with
all kinds of non-perishable goods. The foods ranged from a wide
variety of canned goods to loaves of bread, from cases of bottled
water to cases of electrolyte drinks, from boxes of cereal to boxes
of Pop-Tarts. All kinds of food filled the shelves. Peifer has done
great work to help provide food for local families in need.
Tom Peifer, Kruger
Elevator Annual Food Drive fills food pantry - Video
[Matt Boutcher; Photos by Patty
Peifer ]
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