Iowa City Cranksgiving helps families in need this Thanksgiving season

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - People in Iowa City are lacing up their biking shoes for the 5th annual Cranksgiving. Cranksgiving is a food drive on two wheels -- it’s part bike ride, part food drive and part scavenger hunt.

Riders will take off from Big Grove Brewery in Iowa City at 11 am Saturday morning.

Participants will be given a manifest of items they need to get from 10 different stops.

Cyclists will pick up Thanksgiving staples along with some other optional items that will get donated after the ride, but they won’t know exactly what they need to get until they arrive.

Items collected will be donated to Table to Table and CommUnity Crisis Services to provide food for families in need during Thanksgiving.

“Just grab whatever bike you’ve got. If you can ride to a couple of stops. Heck, you know you’ve got 10 items on the list and you’re nearing the end of the ride and you’ve got 7. Just go to one stop and get the rest of the items. Come back. You have done more good than you would have been, you know, sitting on that couch thinking, oh, what can I do to help this season you know?” said Nick Maddix, Cranksgiving organizer.

Last year the Iowa City ride collected more than 300 pounds of food to donate.

Maddix said he hopes to double that number this year.

You still have time to sign up for Cranksgiving. You can find more information here or you registration begins at 10:30 this morning at Big Grove.

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