News Coverage
New dashboard serves as resource for free and reduced-price meals, summer meal sites
In an effort to make data related to free and reduced-price school meals, Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children and summer meal sites more accessible, the Iowa Hunger Coalition has started to collect data in a new School Nutrition Dashboard.
New plan outlines communitywide effort for tackling food insecurity in Central Iowa
A new Central Iowa Food Security Plan calls the entire community to the table to tackle the growing challenge of food insecurity in the area. The plan, which the United Way of Central Iowa and the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines provided funding support for and unveiled during an event on Feb. 6 at the C3 Center in Des Moines, calls for a united, collaborative response that “aims to address food insecurity equitably, respectfully and with dignity.”
Reinventing the Wheels
Meals on Wheels’ new home will triple its impact.
Five days a week, rain or shine, Meals on Wheels employees and volunteers deliver more than 1,000 freshly prepared lunches to older Iowans, veterans and others with limited mobility. For many, this single-serving meal constitutes two-thirds of their daily food intake. WesleyLife, which operates the program in Central Iowa, delivered approximately 350,000 meals last year.
Build on the ‘Borlaug legacy’
Branstad reflects on first year leading World Food Prize Foundation
For one of his first orders of business as the president of the World Food Prize Foundation, Terry Branstad rented a bus. He wanted to take staff to the farm south of Cresco where the late Norman Borlaug grew up before becoming a world-renowned ag researcher and humanitarian. Only one employee had visited the site, and Branstad thought it was time that changed. Borlaug’s research and advocacy eventually won him the Nobel Peace Prize, and he went on to create the World Food Prize with the goal
The face of food insecurity
A Navy veteran relies on faith and friends to overcome food insecurity
Ken Peterson said if it weren’t for the angels who are watching out for him, he wouldn’t know how he’d put food on the table. The 66-year-old Navy veteran is one of more than 5 million Americans who are 60 or older and have only limited or uncertain access to adequate food, according to data from Feeding America. That includes nearly 34,500 Iowans.
Turning mines into vines
World Food Prize laureate honored for work to demine war-torn areas, restoring land to farmers
Heidi Kühn was in a minefield in Azerbaijan when she learned she had won this year’s World Food Prize. It was a fitting location since this year’s World Food Prize laureate is being recognized for the work she and her foundation, Roots of Peace, are doing to remove land mines in conflict-ravaged areas and restore that land for agricultural production.
Obesity presents significant economic challenges in Iowa, new report shows
Obesity is not only a chronic disease that 36.4% of Iowans currently live with but also a significant economic challenge that affects nearly everyone, according to findings from a new study by GlobalData PLC. The “Obesity’s Impact on Iowa’s Economy and Labor Force” report found that for 2022, excess weight and obesity reduced economic activity in Iowa by $5.7 billion, which is equivalent to 2.5% of the state’s 2022 gross domestic product.
Farming Iowa to feed Iowans
A Fairfield couple maps out a sustainable future for their land
Sara Anderson and her husband, Jim, own Anderson Prairie Farm, where they’ve lived since 2013. She is from Texas, and he is from northern Ireland. Sara studied conservation and natural resources in college before teaching transcendental meditation for several decades with Jim. After they retired, they decided to plant their roots on an acreage, close to water and with enough space to build their own home with their own hands and grow enough food to sustain themselves.
Four Hunger-Busting Innovators
Meet a few Iowans who are leading the charge against food insecurity with creative new solutions or, in some cases, tried-and-true strategies with a new twist.
Zuli Garcia, Executive director, Knock and Drop Iowa
John Kline, Pastor, Zion Lutheran Church
Michelle Paulsen, Letter carrier, U.S. Postal Service
Gwen Simpson, Executive director, Lamoni Food Pantry
Restocking the shelves
Jewell, a town of 1,200 in Hamilton County, has a dozen retail stores, two banks, a few salons and chiropractors, a library, dentist office, medical clinic, hardware store, co-op and a public school district.
But a few years ago, the town almost lost one of its most essential businesses: its grocery store.
Tom Mulholland will always remember Christmas 2021 as the one when he felt like George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
On the evening of Dec. 13, his grocery store in Malvern, which had been in the family for four generations, burned down. It took firefighters from more than 25 communities in southwest Iowa to put it out. In doing so, they completely drained the town’s water supply.
Creating an eco-friendly industry
Mike and Ilee Muller, owners of Grace on Main in Elk Horn, received the Iowa Restaurant Association’s first Sustainability & Innovation Award in 2022. The new award recognizes Iowa restaurants for their leadership commitment to sustainable practices and protecting the environment.
Humanitarian who clears land mines and restores land for farming named 2023 World Food Prize laureate
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A humanitarian who has spent more than a quarter century de-mining areas where conflict has occurred and then restoring agriculture in those areas has been named the World Food Prize’s 2023 laureate.
Extra! Extra! A New Use for Old Newsstands
At the height of the pandemic, Natasha Marquis experienced what she calls “a crisis of conscience.” She wanted to be more intentional about helping her community in Clear Lake.
Share food, reduce waste
At least 40 community fridges have sprung up in the Des Moines area in the last few years. The publicly accessible refrigerators are stocked with free food, with the twin goals of getting food to people who need it and reducing food waste. Anyone can help themselves to food from the fridge, no questions asked, and anyone can donate to it.
Ways you can reduce food waste
Each year, 40% of the food produced in the U.S. is thrown away. Excessive food waste is expensive and harmful to the environment. But it is preventable. Here are seven ways you can help reduce food waste.
Urban Dreams to expand food pantry
Thanks to a recent $212,500 grant from the Food Bank of Iowa, Urban Dreams will be expanding its food pantry at its new 11,109-square-foot facility, a building the nonprofit recently started remodeling at 1615 Second Ave.
The new building will contain a 1,500-square-foot food pantry, a significant change from their current location at 601 Forest Ave., which only has about 1,000 total square feet—and no space to dedicate fully to the food pantry.
Connecting kids with healthy food
You may have heard the statistic: In Polk County, 1 in 5 children don’t have adequate access to nutritious foods, according to Feeding America. But behind that number are children who are more at risk to develop poor health — including stomachaches, headaches, colds and fatigue — than their food-secure peers, according to the Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit organization focused on eliminating hunger.
Corporate Challenge Action Steps 2022
The Iowa Stops Hunger Corporate Challenge is part of a statewide initiative created by BPC, in partnership with presenting sponsor Hy-Vee, to drive awareness and action around hunger and food insecurity in Iowa. As part of that effort, organizations committed themselves to taking at least one action to help stop hunger, while educating their workforce and the community about this critical issue and inspiring others to take action to end hunger in Iowa.
By the numbers: Who experiences food insecurity, and why?
Right now, more than 38 million people in the United States and 300,000 people in Iowa don’t have reliable access to affordable and nutritious food. Food insecurity doesn’t discriminate. It also doesn’t affect everyone equally.
Federal official outlines global road map to address food insecurity during Borlaug Dialogue
Climate change is the largest challenge facing the global fight against food insecurity, and diplomacy will be critical in the implementation of a plan to address challenges that lead to food insecurity worldwide, said Ramin Toloui, assistant undersecretary for the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.
Creating a Food-Secure Community
Having grown up in West Branch, Melissa O’Neil is very familiar with the farming adage, “You can’t grow land.” This was on her mind in the winter of 2017, her second year as CEO of Central Iowa Shelter & Services, when there were 234 individuals in need of shelter and only 150 emergency shelter beds at CISS.
Changing the climate change conversation
2022 World Food Prize laureate calls for same urgency on climate change as on COVID vaccine development
Cynthia Rosenzweig, this year’s World Food Prize winner, says the same collaboration that was created to develop vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic is needed to fight climate change.
Hunger inequities: DMARC report highlights disparities in food insecurity, issues call for action to end lasting effects of redlining
People of color continued to experience food insecurity at disproportionately higher levels than others, according to a report from the Des Moines Area Religious Council that details just how much more frequently people of color sought assistance from the agency’s food pantry network.
What business leaders can do to fight food insecurity
Business Publications Corp. will showcase another year of its Iowa Stops Hunger Initiative on Aug. 30 with a virtual event and the publication of its annual Iowa Stops Hunger magazine later this fall.
Ames company turns to ancient grain to fight food insecurity
Patrick Schnable, co-founder and CEO of Dryland Genetics, believes if you can increase demand or production anywhere in the world, it helps with hunger everywhere in the world.
The Ames-based company he leads is working on developing a higher-yield-producing version of an ancient grain as it seeks to find a more sustainable and environmentally sound way to feed the world.
Food pantries dig in as need rises
Food pantries and food banks across Iowa are seeing the effects of what some describe as a perfect storm as they see sharp increases in the number of people seeking assistance following the reduction of SNAP benefits earlier this year, compounded by the effects of inflation and high gas prices.
Gardening for the community
During spring work days at Des Moines’ two community gardens, dreams of 3-pound heirloom tomatoes, gourmet salad greens, shishito peppers and other exotic vegetable varieties are planted for gardeners to enjoy. And thanks to a budding volunteer program, extra just-picked produce is going to neighbors facing food insecurity. Last year, growers donated more than 910 pounds of produce.
SNAP recipients feel pinch of reduced benefits while food pantries begin to see demand rise
Cecelia Proffit and her family are among those bracing for the decline in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that took effect April 1 after Gov. Kim Reynolds ended the public health disaster emergency proclamation that had increased SNAP benefits for recipients to the maximum level.
Free food for all
Five years ago, the Drake Neighborhood Little Free Pantry Project installed its first wooden box as a community food initiative with the guiding principle to take what you need and leave what you can. Given the speed at which these pantries are emptied — usually within a few hours — the need for them continues to grow.
Circle our cities
Growing food closest to the people who need it most. That’s the mission of the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust’s new campaign, Circling Our Cities, to find land around Iowa cities that can be transformed into sustainable food farms where fresh produce would be grown closest to cities where they believe it can do the most good. The goal is to circle 10 Iowa cities with 10 food farms in 10 years.
Double Up Food Bucks seeks state funds to restore access to 2021 levels
When federal coronavirus relief funding expired at the end of 2021, the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative had to scale back its food assistance program that is designed to put fresh produce in the hands of low-income Iowans.
A Common Hunger
These are stories of food insecurity in Iowa. They illustrate the many issues intimately intertwined with hunger in the United States: child care, transportation, job loss, divorce, education, mental health, disability, immigration, incarceration, addiction.
‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’
As of 2016—the most recent data available—more than 80,000 Iowans age 60 and older were food insecure. That number is likely to be far higher today.
Filling the Gaps
How mobile food pantries and dedicated volunteers are serving in-need rural populations.
Principled Produce
Iowa may have the land, soil and climate ideal for growing crops, but there are still people who don’t have enough fresh produce to sustain a healthy diet. Here’s how four organizations around the state are helping.
5 Ways To Fight Food Insecurity
Experts share the best ways to use your talents, money or voice to help feed your neighbors.
Iowa’s Food Banks
Explaining the system of organizations working together to help make sure no Iowan goes hungry.
The Deer Hunters
A collaboration among the Iowa DNR, meat lockers and Iowa's food banks provides food-insecure Iowans with venison.
Hunger and the Pandemic
Statistics from around Iowa and the country about how COVID-19 has only made the hunger disparity worse.
Together, We Can Make an Enormous Impact
To Our Customers and Communities:
It’s estimated that 42 million people face hunger in the United States this year alone—including many of our fellow Iowans.
Join Us to Stop Hunger
No Iowan should go hungry.
It is such a simple statement and almost defies logic in a state that helps feed the world. Yet, despite the abundance of food we produce, there are still many Iowans who wonder where their next meal will come from.
Changing the food insecurity conversation
Food bank and pantry leaders say problems that lead to food insecurity need to be addressed
Thinking outside the food box
Food insecurity was already a significant, growing problem in Iowa before the pandemic, and as restaurants reopen and masks come off, families who are hungry in Central Iowa are still as much at risk of being left without adequate support.
Feeding Iowans Task force to scale back its work as report details efforts to combat food insecurity in Iowa
Corporate Challenge Action Steps
Every action, no matter how large or how small, is needed in order to continue sustained awareness and action toward ending hunger. We hope these organizations’ actions, highlighted here, help inspire you to take an action to help end hunger in the community.
A look at the numbers: Global food insecurity is at a five-year high
United Nations report shows pandemic’s effect on world hunger
Suddenly hungry
Systemic inequities, stigmas and maintaining awareness focus of Iowa Stops Hunger panel discussion
Stepping up to the plate
Pandemic demand fuels further growth for Ankeny-based Mom’s Meals
90 years later: Yesterday’s maps and today’s data
How Des Moines' redlined neighborhoods are affected by poverty today
Food bank network relies on resilience to keep people fed
As people have been furloughed from jobs, laid off, or have seen their work hours reduced with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, more people have had to rely on food assistance programs to make ends meet.
DMARC Uses Super Bowl For Good
This year, the Des Moines Area Religious Council will join thousands of organizations around the country in fighting food insecurity on Feb. 6 and 7, the weekend of the Super Bowl.
When Hunger Calls
Zuli Garcia’s phone never stops beeping, even in the middle of the night. Latino families are always reaching out for guidance in navigating the pitfalls of life in this country, including poverty and food insecurity.
Photo essay:
Suspended in the balance
This photo essay by contributor Susan Sidebottom captures what food insecurity looks like in Iowa. Those suspended in the balance are our teachers, front-line factory workers who are critical in putting food on our tables, restaurant managers, road workers, cleaning crews who keep hospitals and food plants safe, and children. They are productive members of communities so their risk isn’t outwardly apparent, but they face the dichotomy between vulnerability and stability every day. We opted not to include captions both to protect the privacy of those included and because the photos truly speak for themselves.
Q&A:
The intersections of disability & food insecurity
True before the pandemic and even more so now: Data shows people with disabilities are unemployed at a disproportionate rate compared with those who don’t live with a disability. This creates several economic barriers – including food insecurity.
Video:
What are the top policy issues affecting food insecurity in Iowa?
At our Nov. 4 Iowa Stops Hunger panel titled “Confronting drivers of hunger: State and local policy considerations”, we asked our panelists to answer a question to help us pinpoint key policy issues affecting hunger.
REWATCH ON-DEMAND:
Policy and Hunger event
On Nov. 4, we hosted a panel decision with community leaders to discuss the role that local and state policy plays when it comes to food insecurity.
The Hunger Warriors
Skeptics may argue that one person can't change the world, but these seven individuals beg to differ.
Food For All
Immigrants and refugees face additional challenges when battling food insecurity.
Pantry Helps College Students
Pamela’s Food Pantry on the Des Moines Area Community College campus in Ankeny started as a table and a dorm-sized refrigerator with yogurt, juice and an occasional leftover apple from lunch. Today, it serves more than 500 students a year.
Growers Give Back
Farmers, students and gardeners throughout the state are all working to feed their hungry neighbors.
Firsts On The Food Scene
Known for feeding the world, Iowa also has cultivated top agricultural leaders whose legacies you can still experience today.
After The Storm
August's derecho amplified food insecurity issues in the state.
7 Ways To Help
Make each dollar and minute count by supporting these nonprofits and initiatives.
Here To Help
These organizations connect Iowans in need with food resources.
Restaurants Assist In The Fight Against Hunger
As food insecurity has grown with the pandemic, Des Moines restaurants have stepped up to help.
Locally grown food critical in fight against food insecurity
Partnerships forging paths to make locally grown food more accessible
A Voice For The Hungry
Several years ago, as Simon Estes was tooling down Interstate 35, he was shocked by a billboard stating that 1 in 5 children in Iowa struggled with hunger.
‘Cracking Hunger’ Helps Feed Iowans In Need
In 2018, the Iowa Egg Council initiated a program called Cracking Hunger. Two years later, the program has become even more important during the pandemic—and it has expanded.
Urbandale Launches Pedal For Pantry
When COVID-19 forced the Urbandale Food Pantry to cancel its biggest fundraising event of the year, staff and board members needed to get creative.
‘They were failed’
Des Moines volunteers see firsthand the destruction and need at Cedar Rapids apartments
Take action ... Give Food, Give Funds, Give Time
Hunger challenges exposed by the pandemic
Food banks and pantries forced to rethink delivery of food to rising numbers in need
Coding out hunger
Polk County developers plan launch of food rescue platform to aid area nonprofits
Iowa Stops Hunger panel discusses pandemic’s effect on food insecurity
Getting the coronavirus pandemic under control and then working on policy solutions to help low-income Iowans were just some of the topics discussed during a recent panel discussion on food insecurity in Iowa as part of Business Publication Corp.’s Iowa Stops Hunger initiative.