Media Release :: FOOD PANTRY NETWORK SERVING RECORD NUMBER OF FAMILIES

Posted on October 10, 2011 // 0 Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Sarai Rice, DMARC executive director, sarai@dmreligious.org, (515) 277-6969

DMARC FOOD PANTRY NETWORK SERVING RECORD NUMBER OF FAMILIES

DES MOINES, Iowa (Oct. 10, 2011) – The Des Moines Area Religious Council food pantry warehouse is being filled and emptied to the walls about twice each week, as the Council strives to meet growing needs for short-term food assistance in Polk County.

Even as record numbers of Iowans are receiving public food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), DMARC is finding it a challenge to keep its Food Pantry Networkwarehouse stocked with enough food. Each week, about 20,000 purchased and donated food items arrive at the warehouse and are repackaged and transported to 12 metro-area pantries to provide over 26,000 meals for about 1,800 people.

Each year, DMARC provides short-term food assistance for about 30,000 people, including nearly 15,000 who are children or youth under the age of 25 years. Food requests in 2011 are on pace to be the highest ever, with 7% more people asking for help.

“With poverty and unemployment rates at levels not seen in decades, DMARC’s reserves are being severely taxed,” said DMARC executive director, Sarai Rice. “We have placed record-high food orders with our wholesale distributors in recent weeks and, with winter approaching, we need an influx of cash donations to continue to meet the unparalleled demand on our community’s emergency food system,” she continued.

While in-kind food donations are always welcome and appreciated, cash donations help the DMARC food pantry stretch limited resources even further. “Each one dollar donation helps us purchase 2-6 times as much food on the wholesale market or through the Food Bank as can be bought at retail cost,” said Brendan Comito, DMARC president, “so cash gifts make it possible for us to provide food for more people in need.”

DMARC remains committed to providing a free 5-day supply of healthy and nutritionally balanced food for anyone in need of assistance. For a list of DMARC pantry sites, or to support the Food Pantry Network, visit www.MovetheFood.orgor call 515-277-6969.

The Des Moines Area Religious Council is an interfaith organization with a core membership of about 150 congregations from ten faith traditions. Recipient of the 2010 Aurora Award from the Des Moines Register, DMARC provides a common means of responding to basic human needs and a context for interfaith dialogue.

MovetheFood is a DMARC-led initiative to address the entire food system in Greater Des Moines, building on more than 35 years of food assistance work, catalyzing fresh generations, and engaging new constituencies to further support a vision for a day when everyone in Polk County has enough to eat.