Mobile Food Pantry surges with new summer program

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County’s Mobile Food Pantry saw record use on Wednesday, June 4, as a new program launched to help keep children fed through the summer months.

“There is so much food coming off of that truck,” said Jen Burton, who coordinates the monthly distribution of tens of thousands of pounds of food to the area through the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. “If they have kids, they get a choice for some food and they get some extra food.”

The Healthy Kids Iowa program is the state’s alternative to the federal SUN Bucks program, which allowed families to purchase food at eligible stores directly with EBT cards. Gov. Kim Reynolds received a waiver to opt out of the federal program and launch this new initiative earlier this year.

From June through August, eligible households with children between the age of 4 and 18 can receive additional food packages to help ease the burden on families that would otherwise have access school lunches during the rest of the year.

The Northeast Iowa Food Bank selected the Mobile Food Pantry to be Floyd County’s distribution site for the program, including the additional food for the summer program with the regular inventory of groceries.

Wednesday’s distribution was the first run for the new program, prompting several new households to join the queue of vehicles waiting their turn for their monthly allotment.

From children to senior citizens and families to single people, the mobile pantry provides food aid to thousands of people in Floyd County. The additional food for the Healthy Kids Iowa program provided extra food packages for roughly 190 kids before running out for the month.

Burton said she will contact the Northeast Iowa Food Bank to see what the Healthy Kids Iowa allotment will look like in July and August.

Even without the new program, demand for the mobile food pantry continues to rise.

Last year at this time the food pantry served about 200 households and saw its use peak last fall with 330 households. Burton said that the influx of new registered households this week set a new record for the mobile pantry, bringing the final number up to 350 households served.

“There’s such as need and it’s only going to grow,” said Burton.

The increased demand has forced the mobile pantry to come up with creative logistic solutions as the ever increasing number of clients line up to receive their monthly groceries. Hundreds of vehicles are snaked around the fairgrounds in order to keep the line from spilling out onto the road as families wait for the food distribution to begin.

Volunteers walk down the line of cars ahead of time to check everybody in so that delivery is swift once everything is ready to go.

To accommodate the additional food for the summer kids program, Burton brought in even more volunteers than normal to help with the distribution. She estimated between 100 and 120 volunteers were at the fairgrounds to unpack, sort, and distribute out several tons worth of groceries.

Along with high schoolers and retirees, Burton has recruited several of her co-workers from Valero Renewables to dedicate their time to the mobile food pantry.

“She is amazing,” said Bob Roberson, a fellow Valero volunteer. “She has run with this and rallied lots of support.”

Burton is continually thankful for the dedicated pool of people she counts on to keep the food pantry running smoothly and keep her from getting “fumbleblustered.”

“They’re the best, said Burton. “They’re just willing to do whatever it takes.”

Along with the regular line-up of volunteers, state Sen. Sandy Salmon was also at the fairgrounds to chip in for Wednesday’s distribution. Salmon had been invited to see firsthand what the mobile food pantry provides to the county residents.

“They offer a great service,” said Salmon. “It’s a wonderful, efficient operation and a lot of wonderful volunteers.”

Salmon said she had previously seen the distribution center in Waterloo, but this was her first time at the Floyd County site. She was impressed by the use of the fairground’s Youth Enrichment Center as a distribution site rather than its typical use for events.

“The need is great. That’s what this place is here for,” said Salmon. “It was a good experience coming up here.”

As demand for the food pantry rises, so will the need for even more volunteers. From unpacking the truck to checking in clients to distributing carts of groceries, there are many ways people can contribute to the cause. Interested volunteers can contact Burton at jen.burton@valero.com.

“There’s lots of jobs,” said Burton. “I’m just so thankful for the volunteers.”