Pickup truck crash at Hoosier Hills Food Bank damages food drive postcards, some food

Brian Rosenzweig, The Herald-Times
·2 min read
A pickup truck drove into the Dan Taylor Annex at Hoosier Hills Food Bank at approximately 1:41 p.m. on Sunday, April 21, 2024.
A pickup truck drove into the Dan Taylor Annex at Hoosier Hills Food Bank at approximately 1:41 p.m. on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

Hoosier Hills Food Bank is working with construction and insurance companies to assess damage and repairs after a pickup truck traveling south on I-69 crashed into their warehouse on West Industrial Park Drive Sunday afternoon. The driver is believed to have passed out at the wheel due to a medical condition, according to Monroe County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Jeff Brown.

Members of the Monroe Fire Protection District and Monroe County Sheriff's Office responded. Brown said the driver was taken to Indiana University Hospitals for medical care. Neither the driver nor his passenger are believed to be seriously injured and no other injuries were reported, according to Alonso.

"I'm amazed that no one was more seriously injured, but the two people in the car walked away," Alonso said Monday morning.

The truck was believed to have veered off the interstate and continued down a steep embankment off I-69 into annex, which is made of metal sheet panels.

Postcards for Hoosier Hill Food Bank's Stamp Out Hunger food drive are scattered across the Dan Taylor Annex after a pickup truck, at right, drove into the building on April 21, 2024.
Postcards for Hoosier Hill Food Bank's Stamp Out Hunger food drive are scattered across the Dan Taylor Annex after a pickup truck, at right, drove into the building on April 21, 2024.

Alonso said the building damage is extensive, but luckily, not much food was stored in the portion of the building. The collision did destroy and scatter many of the 60,000 postcards Hoosier Hills Food Bank had prepared for its Stamp Out Hunger food drive, which were to be sent to Monroe County residents as part of a national food drive effort in May. Alonso said the team still is working to assess how many postcards can be salvaged.

He said the postcards, which encourage donates and are each paired with a folded paper grocery bag, are a critical part of the food bank's national food drive, which occurs on May 11.

"We're kind of having to drop everything to deal with insurance," Alonso said. "But beyond that, I'm hopeful we can salvage most of those postcards, because they really make a difference in getting people to know about the food drive, and it could impact us if we don't have enough left to distribute."

Hoosier Hills Food Bank, based in Bloomington, collects and distributes food to nonprofit food pantries and kitchens across Monroe, Brown, Lawrence, Orange, Owen and Martin counties.

Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Pickup on I-69 crashes into Hoosier Hills Food Bank in Bloomington