CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Nearly 2,000 volunteers, including University of Northern Iowa faculty, staff and students, along with organizations and businesses from across the Cedar Valley, came together to assemble more than 70,000 food bags during the 2026 Pack the Dome event, the community’s largest annual volunteer effort.

Held in conjunction with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pack the Dome encourages participants to honor the holiday through acts of service. This year, the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley facilitated 1,958 volunteers to fill the UNI-Dome floor to assemble donations for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank and its backpack program, surpassing the event’s goal of 60,000 bags and assembling a total of 70,272.

“Pack the Dome shows what makes this community special — when people come together in service, the impact reaches far beyond a single event. It illustrates the best of who we are,” said Julianne Gassman, director of Community Engagement at UNI. “Seeing so many people working side by side to support their neighbors shows just how deeply giving back is woven into the fabric of this community.” 

This year’s Pack the Dome also served as the launch of “Spring Into Service: Cats Who Care,” a semester-long service initiative held in partnership with the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley as part of the UNI Sesquicentennial Celebration. Volunteers from across campus and several university departments worked side by aside on assembly lines, packing sacks, boxing donations and stacking pallets of food.

“Pack the Dome was a great way to launch our ‘Spring into Service: Cats Who Care’ portion of our celebration,” said UNI Sesquicentennial Co-Chair Randy Pilkington. “We value our partnership with Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley and the Northeast Iowa Food Bank and the opportunity to assist with this great service event.” 

UNI Sesquicentennial Co-Chair Cary Darrah echoed that sentiment, emphasizing the role of service in the university’s history and mission. 

“It was an honor to participate in the 2026 Pack the Dome event!” Darrah said. “Contributing to a community project that exemplifies service is in line with the UNI sesquicentennial message, which celebrates 150 years of collaboration between the University of Northern Iowa and the Cedar Valley.”

Spring Into Service: Cats Who Care will continue throughout the semester, with additional volunteer opportunities in the months ahead. The next signature event of the initiative will be the UNI Day of Service on April 8, 2026. Registration opportunities will be announced soon.

UNI alumni are also encouraged to participate by giving back 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of service in their local communities, wherever they live this semester. 

UNI’s commitment to service was recently recognized with the 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. The designation reflects community engagement embedded across the institution, from academic programs and research initiatives to student organizations, centers and institutes.