Business Monkeytown’s Care Now Program helps fight hunger in Eastern Iowa

Monkeytown recently donated $100 plus a couple cases of facial tissue to Linda Wood, representing the Benton County Food Pantry, as part of its Care Now initiative.  Care Now converts 100% of what the company receives for recycling used ink and toner cartridges into donations to area food banks like the one in Vinton.

“Our Care Now initiative does double duty. It not only allows us to contribute to area food pantries in their efforts to feed those in need but it also keeps used ink and toner cartridges out of our landfills,” said Kurt Karr, Monkeytown’s Top Banana. “We are thrilled to be able to have a positive impact on both humanitarian and ecologic levels.”

The program is simple. Monkeytown encourages businesses and individuals to return used ink and toner cartridges back to them whether they’ve been purchased from the company or not. Each individual cartridge isn’t worth much alone. But by pooling hundreds or thousands of cartridges together the resulting return allows for donations to the less fortunate while reducing landfill waste.

“Monkeytown’s donations to the food banks have not just been monetary. We’ve also been able to give much needed paper products like bath and facial tissue that are not always easily available to these organizations but are always needed and appreciated,” said Nicole Schminke, Head Zookeeper (manager of daily operations). “This programs success comes from the generosity of the customers we serve and their willingness to help others.”

In addition to the ink and toner recycling program, Care Now also includes a School Nurses Fund. It is designed to make non-taxpayer dollars available to school staff so they can immediately meet the needs of students without going through usual school purchasing procedures.  Through the Care Now School Nurse Fund, school nursing staff has provided students with underwear, eyeglasses, mittens and hats, lice treatments and much more. Donations are made in one dollar increments by customers that add the designated item number (VSNURSEFUND) to any order and a quantity equal to the dollar amount to be donated. Monkeytown, in turn, matches all donations going to the Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District up to $150 per month.

About Monkeytown

Monkeytown, based in Vinton, Iowa, is a sourcing and custom delivery company for supplies with a selection of over 27,000 items that are available for next day delivery.  The company, founded in 1995, is passionate about providing the best quality products at the best value possible to customers in over 60 Iowa communities.  For more information, visit http://www.mymonkeytown.com