The quickest 3 minutes of the day

Dustin Logan and Abby Maynard, representing The Andersons Denison Ethanol, race down an aisle at Hy-Vee, competing in the Crawford County Farm Bureau’s Grab and Give Grocery event on Wednesday morning. Photos by Gordon Wolf

Grocery carts rolled through the aisles of Hy-Vee on Wednesday morning and were filled with non-perishable food products, paper products and personal hygiene items for the Temporary Aid Program (TAP).

The occasion was the fourth Grab and Give Grocery Event sponsored by Crawford County Farm Bureau.

The event takes place during National Agriculture Week.

Eleven two-person teams raced through the grocery store aisles, in three heats, to grab items needed by TAP. The goal was for the items in the cart to add up as close as possible to $250.

At stake was a trophy, donated by D&S Sales, and bragging rights, but the true reason was to provide needed items for families in need.

Jim Heithoff, regional manager for Iowa Farm Bureau, summed up the reason prior to the start of the contest: “We have an abundance of agriculture here in Crawford County. It is our time to give back to those who are food insecure in the county. It’s ironic in this area of abundance of production we still have people that do need items for food.”

He added that he hoped the participants would look at the amount of food and other items that they collected during the contest and would have a sense of pride in what would be donated to TAP.

Teams were provided with a list of items needed by TAP. Teams had to gather at least 10 different items from the list. They could not use any type of calculator to add up the value of the items as they raced the aisles. They could only tally up the prices in their heads.

Participants described the three minutes they were allowed to shop as going quickly but a fun time.

In the end, the team from Van Wall Implement repeated as the winner of the trophy. That team was only $3.71 lower than the $250 target.

The team from Crawford County Bank was nearly as close, with a total only $3.95 higher than $250.

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**Bob Boettger charges down an aisle, leaving his teammate, Chad Stephens, behind.**

Following are the team sponsors, team members and the value of the items they gathered.

Van Wall Equipment, Hunter Soll and Nick Wageman: $246.29

Crawford County Bank, Larry Andersen and Louis Scheuring: $253.95

Farm Bureau Insurance Angela Stein & Staff, Samuel Ince and Sarah Hillgartner: $255.62

Silverline Truck Wash & Mobile Concrete, Michelle Fink and Jen Krajicek: $241

Hy-Vee, Bob Townsend and Tami Blum: $220.83 plus $40 gift cards

United Bank of Iowa, Whitney Reimers and Cole Carlson: $260.96

Bank Iowa, Kristin Reetz and Jenny Gaskill: $265.95

Vetter Equipment, Deb Beam and Tyler Klein: $214.10

The Andersons Denison Ethanol, Dustin Logan and Abby Maynard: $306.17

Blazin’ B Ranch and Phil’s Landscaping, Bob Boettger and Chad Stephens: $356.03

McMinemee Seed & Chemical was represented in the event by Farm Bureau officials so that team wasn’t for the trophy, but they came in at $249.99, just one cent away from the target of $250.