Central Iowa Hospitality Industry Partnership Fights Hunger, Homelessness
August 5, 2015
The Iowa Hospitality Donation Network (IHDN) is a young
initiative that shows great promise in bringing nonprofits,
hotels and event venues together in win-win partnerships
that support low income and homeless individuals in central
Iowa.
By providing logistical assistance and a platform for sharing
information, IHDN helps the hospitality industry donate
excess food, leftover personal care items, and discarded
housewares to nonprofit organizations and individuals in
need.
The promise of IDHN rests on its ability to facilitate win-win
partnerships that go beyond traditional motivations of corporate responsibility while recognizing and addressing
the barriers that hotels and nonprofits face in rescuing food and personal items.
For example, as hotels upgrade and renovate the disposal of mattresses is becoming progressively more
expensive due to the fact that landfills are now setting prices based on weight. The Iowa Hospitality Donation
Network exists to find solutions for logistics of moving these products from the hotels to charities that can
distribute to those in need, such as shelters and orga