McDermott ascends Burlington Center rooftop to begin 2nd annual 'Heroes for Hunger' Food Drive

HASTINGS, Neb. – KHAS Radio's Brandon J McDermott is stranded on the roof of a four-story building and needs your help to get him down. 

The Partyline morning show host climbed to the top of the Burlington Center Tuesday morning to begin the station's 2nd annual 'Heroes for Hunger' food drive. 

Heroes for Hunger is gathering non-perishable food items to donate to the Hastings Food Pantry and Crossroads Mission Avenue. 

But, the catch to the fundraiser is that McDermott must camp out and live on the rooftop until donors fill up two moving trucks full of food and basic necessity donations. 

The drive is tackling the issue of food insecurity in Nebraska. 

Food insecurity rates in Adams County are at 15.4%, above the Nebraska average of 14.5%.

That equals about 4,800 people or 1,900 households in Adams County who may not know where their next meal is coming from.

McDermott says he's fighting the issue of food insecurity, as it affected him and his family first-hand while growing up. 

"I know what it's like to not know where my home is, not know where my roots are, and also not know where dinner is going to come from," said McDermott. "I may be counting on it at school, but on Saturday or Sunday, where am I going to get a meal from? Those things hit hard. I know what it's like to open the pantry as a kid and see nothing in there, and to see mom and dad argue over money. That kind of stuff is tough."

Anyone is invited to donate food each day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the south Burlington Center parking lot until both of the moving trucks are full of food.

Last year, KHAS Radio’s rooftop effort captured community attention and drew widespread support, as Hastings filled an entire box truck in two and a half days.

"'Are you going to do it again?' I heard that from countless people in town periodically throughout the year since we did it, and of course that answered the question, we have to," said McDermott about last year's food drive. "As the event went on last year, we also saw folks wanting to be part of this, so not only do people want to be a part of what we're doing with donations, but people want to be a part of making a difference here."

Crossroads Mission Avenue reported distributing 11,768 food boxes, 3,427 community meals and recovering 1.495 million pounds of food to pantries across central Nebraska in 2024.

This year, Allen’s Foodmart is offering 10% off regular-priced items for Heroes for Hunger shoppers who mention the drive at checkout, plus specials on paper goods.