Food Insecurity in Iowa

Many Iowans are struggling to

put food on the table
this holiday season.

We'll talk about food insecurity

and the nonprofit organizations
providing help.

On this edition of Iowa Press.

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This is the Friday, December

Here is Kay Henderson.

In the breadbasket of the world,

there are still people who are,
quote unquote, food insecure.

We're going to talk about that

today
on this edition of Iowa Press.

Our guests are Michelle Book.

She is the president and CEO
of the Food Bank of Iowa.

It serves 55 of Iowa's 99
counties.

And joining us
today is Kim Guardado.

She is the Food
Reservoir director

that's essentially
kind of a food bank director

for the Hawkeye area Community
Action Program in Hiawatha.

And her organization serves
seven counties for the folks

who are food insecure
in that area.

Thanks to both of you
for joining us.

It's a pleasure to be here.
Thank you.

Also joining this conversation,
Clay Masters of Iowa

Public Radio and Aaron Murphy
of the Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

So we wanted to start by
just kind of

getting the lay of the land.

What is the current
need out there?

What are

how do things

look right now as far as food
insecurity in Iowa?

Michelle Book,
but we'll start with you.

What are you seeing right now
as we enter this holiday season?

How great is the need out there?

Well, the need flatlined,
I believe over

the course of COVID,
we saw flattening of the need,

an initial ramp up
that flattened out.

Things seem to be calming down.

And then April 1st came SNAP.

Benefits decreased again,
need doubled, tripled.

And in some parts of our states,
we saw quadrupling of the need

where pantries are reporting
that they're seeing

many more families with children
and many people on fixed

income as before that
April 1st snap change.

Kiim, how about in eastern Iowa.

There is.

Are you seeing something
similar?

I would say yes.

Most of our partners
are telling us that

right now

we're seeing about a 40%
increase

over what we had seen
previously.

Definitely families
that have never accessed

this kind of food service before
and families that have just

faced all kinds
of increased challenges

that they've never had to access
these kind of resources.

We've learned that or been told
that food insecurity

can be a precursor

to other issues as well,
including homelessness,

which has been on the rise
in some Iowa communities.

I know it is in Cedar Rapids,
for example.

Kim is that your experience
as well?

Is that a warning sign

to even more issues
that could come later?

I think food is one of those
things that everybody needs.

So we want to provide

those resources
to as many people as possible.

And when you have one
need in an area, often

those needs are met with other
challenges, like homelessness or

health care issues.

All of those things
kind of go together.

So, you know, really

we just want to support families
where they're at and help them

sort of the easiest thing
we can provide for people.

Michelle, same question to you
is, do you see that same thing?

Food insecurity and poverty
go hand in hand.

And as and in that equation

is access to affordable housing,
daycare, daycare that families

can't afford, health
care and mental health care.

All of those come together.

They're all in one big basket.

But at the end of the day,

the thing that people seem
to not be able to budget

for is food.
So they'll pay their rent.

They've got to make the car
payment.

They've got to take care
of their kids health care costs.

At the end of the day, there's
just not enough left for food.

We're seeing kind
of a perfect storm right now

when you think about funding

that was there for pandemic
relief, that's going away.

We're also seeing inflation
pretty high.

And we've also seen some issues
with supply chain

and getting resources.

How is that kind of mixture
of challenges

affecting those
that are food insecure?

And is this the kind of thing
that will

work itself out in time
or how do you address it

when you're seeing
all these different things

coming together
with some fairly new territory?

Start with you. Well,

we know inflation is at levels
we've not seen since 1980.

Some of us have

some of us weren't born in 1980,
but we haven't seen since

the 1980s, and our food prices
have increased 13.9%.

That affects
people that are living at

or below the poverty line.

It also affects food banks
as we go out to procure food.

We're seeing increased prices,

a lack of what we need
in the marketplace.

But then also

we have to contract for people
to get it to us.

So freight costs
have also risen extraordinarily.

So it impacts all of us,
those folks

that are taking their calculator
to the grocery store,

they're not able to absorb
the inflation

the way some other people

might be able
to over a period of time.

But again, it costs us more
to provide the service as well.

Kim, how would you come
at that question?

How is that kind of
perfect storm

been impacting
what you see on the ground?

You know, everything is all

just as Michelle described,
everything all fits together.

And so in order for us
to be able

to continue
to provide for individuals,

we need to have access
to more resources.

We need more food
to feed the increased need.

We need more funding to be able
to help, like Michelle

described, the transportation,
all of those pieces together.

It's it's

been extremely challenging the
last year to be able to do that.

You know, one point I might

I might talk about and Kim and I
have talked about this before

food banking started, the 1960s.

And it's really based on food
rescue,

keeping food out of landfills,

working with food retailers
to take that food

that's not sellable but edible
and then put it back in

to the cycle.

So we do that via

our smaller front line
partners are our food pantries.

What we're finding today with

inflation, everybody's
bottom line is shrinking

that those retailers,
the producers and processors,

they're tightening things up.

So we're getting less food
rescue

from some of the big

manufacturers, processors
and less retailers

because people have gotten
more comfortable

with shelves being cleaned off
at the end of the day.

There's just less there for us

to rescue to get back
into our food pantry network.

So that's a pinch as well.

And so because of that,

food banks

are having to purchase
more food,

which with the increase of
costs, is just making it even.

More our food budget
in the first nine months of 22

compared to 21 to 650% more,

and in the last nine months
than we did a year before.

I think that's an important
distinction there, too.

I think a lot of people think

about food banks as places
where you just bring donations,

but there's a, you know,
a need to stock it as well.

I mean, how

how does that relationship work
as far as donations versus

what you're having to buy
as a food bank?

Your percentages
might be a little bit different.

Kim, but during COVID,

about 50% of our food
was coming from the USDA.

The emergency food assistance
program, 30%

was donated and 20%
we purchased with donor dollars.

And a lot of that was school
backpack program.

Today, the USDA,

those food resources
have declined significantly.

At about the same time,
SNAP benefits declined.

So today, where we would have
in the past that 50% of our food

comes from the USDA today,

And our
and our donations have reduced.

So that lends itself
to purchasing more.

Our 700 smaller front line
partners come into our online

inventory system.

They order what they'd like,
we pick it,

we pull it
and we put it on a truck

and we deliver it
to their front door.

They also have access to rescue
from local food retailers.

We we match
people up the local Costco

with the local pantry,

a local Fairway
with a local feeding site.

So we put those things together.

We're the matchmaker.

So they rely on rescue food,

but also what
they get from our inventory.

Similar to what you.

Exactly. Exactly. Mm hmm.

Let's talk about
the demographics of the people

being served by your partners,
the food pantries.

Kim tell us what

we would think of
as the urban versus rural person

who uses a food bank
or a food pantry.

Is there a huge difference
in percentages?

I think the

the important thing to consider
is that the person using

the pantry is a person
just like you and me.

They're they're

the person who might just live
a few houses down on your street

that has come upon
a difficult time

and has needed
to seek out food resources.

And so when we try to think

about who
what does that person look like?

What does that family look like?

They're just like us

and because
food is so important,

we need to make sure that
everybody has access to food.

When we look at rural
versus urban,

I think in
the rural area, we often see

we're all proud Iowans.

And so it can be challenging to

go to ask for food
from a local pantry

when there are many of our
pantries are all volunteer run.

And so you've got volunteers
serving people

in their own neighborhood,
which can be challenging.

So we do often see families
go to a neighboring community

to get food,
whether it's a mobile pantry

or another food
pantry in the urban area.

You know, there's

there's
there's a lot of different

there's a lot
more opportunities,

I would say, for families
to access food resources.

We try to work with our partners
to make sure

that there are opportunities
seven days a week

in the evenings,
in the mornings and afternoons,

because everybody's
working different shifts.

We want to make sure
that we're providing

those resources for everybody.

Michelle, both of you
are using families a lot.

Are there more families

that are food insecure
or more individuals single?

Households?

Well, I would say in October,

Foodbank of Iowa
had a record month and we served

of those were children.

Our food

pantries are
telling us that with the uptick

they're seeing that that growth
has been

in families with children and
a majority of them are working.

One in seven working
Iowa households does not make

enough money to cover
the basic costs of living.

If you're on fixed income,
that's the other demographic.

They're seeing more folks on
fixed income

and adult.

You, me, all of us
need about $29,000

a year gross to float the boat.

Average disability
for the state of Iowa is

for the state of Iowa is 12,000.

So there's a big delta there.

It's families with kids
and it's folks on fixed income.

Kim, you mentioned the one
possible

hurdle in rural communities,
especially where people may be,

like you

said, too proud or whatever
it is, the hesitant

to seek this kind of assistance
even though they may need it.

I wanted to follow up on that.

I'm curious to what level
your concern is with that.

You know, you mentioned people

that will go to another
community, which isn’t maybe

ideal but at least
they're getting that help.

What level of concern
do you have that

there are folks out there
who just aren't

who need it,
who who could could benefit from

this kind of help

and the programs,
but just aren't doing that

for some of those reasons
you talked about.

We try to focus on
having it in our area.

We have mobile pantries
in all of our communities,

especially in those areas,

so that families
who do need to access

that can can find us
one way or another.

We are always concerned

about the families

who are not receiving
the help that they need.

And, you know, it's important
that we try to contact families

in lots of different ways.

We do a lot of collaboration
with other programs.

And as a food bank

within a community action,
we're closely connected

to programs like Energy
Assistance and Head Start

and the WIC program
to make sure that there's

a lot of opportunities
to notify families

about
what resources are available.

I guess another

thing that I

wanted to mention that Michelle
and I have talked about

when you were talking
about families,

I was thinking about the
the cost

that families pay for feeding
their children in school.

And if there was a way
for us to provide more of that

opportunity for the free
and reduced meals to continue

in the school districts

would be a way
for all of families accessing

services with young children
to be able to have more food

resources for their family.

And along those same lines,
collaboration is key to

our success.

We find the food,
we keep it safe,

and we get it
to the door of our partner.

But our 700 partners, they hand
it to the person that need it.

So we are
we are constantly looking for

new and different
collaborations.

We're working with Area
Aging Agency.

They have regions established
across the state of Iowa.

They can get food to seniors.

Seniors are proud
and they don't come

many times looking for it
when they need it.

We're working
with veterans services offices.

There's one
in each one of our 99 counties

to put emergency food boxes
in those offices for veterans.

And we're also working
with school systems.

We now have about 120 pantries
embedded inside of schools

because we know schools

in many parts of our state
are the center of the universe.

The other thing
I'd say about rural versus urban

in metro Des Moines,
we have over 200 partners.

There is a plethora of services

in the metro
and that's a good thing

because there's high demand
in the metro.

But you go out
to, let's say, Wapello, Iowa

the nearest grocery store
is a 15 minute drive.

They depend on Dollar General
to get milk once a month.

So the services in rural
Iowa are few and far between,

and we have to work

hard to build those partnerships
in rural counties

and then do our best
to help them build capacity.

We hold their hand all the way
because it's really challenging

in rural Iowa.

And you're kind of explaining

the situation that comes forward
with food deserts

in which urban and rural food
deserts look very different.

But there are also

some of the same hurdles
when you think

about the 15 minute
drive in Wapello versus

figuring out a transportation
schedule for busses or whatever,

and, say, a Cedar Rapids road

or a Des Moines
I I'm interested to know,

you know, is the paying
for a gallon of milk

at the dollar general,

the overspending,
it may be a gas station.

Is that leading
to some of the food insecurity

that people
just don't have access to that

within their locale?

Well, certainly,
I mean, when you

when you have a you take a
calculator to the grocery store,

every penny counts.

So if they're paying double
for a gallon of milk

because that's all
they have access to,

of course, that's another,
you know, a buck 75.

They can't spend on something
else.

The cost of eggs,
the cost of oranges,

all those things
are extraordinarily

more expensive today

because of inflation,
but even more

so when you go
into a convenience store.

So it's kind of a public
education campaign as well to

to try to get the information
out to communities

that might not even know
how to access this food.

I mean, like,

what are the partnerships
that you have

that kind of get
that communication out there?

We work closely with libraries.

I mean, a lot of times
for a rural community,

a library is the central part
of that town.

The kids

go there

after school to the library
and knows

which children need snacks
after school.

That's a great way
to get connected.

Get those resources out
to families in the community.

We're also working
with health care providers

so we can work with health
care providers to have them do

food security
screening during a well exam

or a visit to the doctor's
office or free clinic.

And so they're asking
those questions

that that haven't
normally been asked

in a health care facility.

And then we provide food boxes
for the health care

provider to give to that family
during that visit,

along with resources

to get connected
to a local pantry

so that there's lots of
additional ways that we can get

those messages out to families
that to be able

to help them access
what they need.

Michelle In everything
we send out the door, every box,

every bag, everything has a
has instructions

on how to access SNAP benefits
and which benefits.

And then as a food Bank of Iowa

association,
of which Kim and I belong,

we pay for a snap hotline

so Iowans can call that hotline
in order to get SNAP benefits.

That's
something that the food Bank

network here in Iowa supports,

but also along those lines
of working with health care,

that's how we have access
to senior citizens.

Our seniors are so proud.
They've worked hard.

Their entire lives.

They don't want a handout.

They they see it as something
that somebody else, their

families out there
that need this.

So going to health care
providers and clinics,

that is the best way to access
senior citizens that we found.

Michelle,
you talked about the work

that you do

with your partners,

the Food Bank of Iowa
right now is

dealing with some issues
with some of those partners,

and it relates to exclusivity
agreements.

And I don't want to get too
into the weeds here and

and the different issues
that have popped up.

But what I'm just curious
is how confident

you feel that

those issues can be resolved
and that at the end of the day,

you will be able to continue
to work with all of these

local partners

that are have
a similar mission to your own.

Thank you for that question,
Erin.

There are no exclusivity
agreements.

There has never been
an exclusivity agreement.

There never will be
an exclusivity agreement.

That's in regard to rescue food
as a feeding America food bank,

we are obligated
to go and pick up food

from national level partners,
partners that are working

under the Feeding
America Food Bank.

Example, Walmart,
they work with Feeding America.

So because I'm a Feeding America
food bank,

I'm obligated to pick up
from the Walmarts

within my geographic service
area.

And doing so.

Walmart knows that
we keep the food safe.

We have to adhere to strict
food safety guidelines,

and then we weigh

all of the pounds of food
that we have taken

and we report that
to Feeding America.

And then Walmart gets a report
once a month

with all the pounds rescued
across their entire service area

and they get a tax deduction
for that.

We have no agreement
with Walmart food Bank of Iowa

has no agreement with Walmart.

But it's part of my job
as a Feeding America food banker

to get there and pick up that
food as a service to Walmart.

Walmart can decide on any
given day where that food goes.

That's their choice.

So if they want to divert it
on Wednesday

someplace else, fine,
just let me know.

Otherwise, I work for Walmart

and other retailers
that have food to rescue.

Back to the first part
of that question, Erin.

In September of this year,

we issued a change
to our contract

requiring that each pantry that
works with Food Bank of Iowa,

that that gets the benefit of
our hard work and our resources,

that in return,
they will provide one three day

supply of food to people
within their geographic

service area once a month.

And there are some who say that
that's asking too much.

What's
what's your response to that?

You know, I don't think one day,

one three day
supply of food is too much.

We have found that people

that are living in this space
of food insecurity,

they're appreciative,
they're grateful,

and they take what they need for
themselves and their families.

There's no data to prove
that they would take too much

if given the opportunity
to take too much on.

And some reporting refers
to the fact

that an average person
comes into the food

pantry system

That's the data
that's been available to us.

So we don't believe it's
too much of the 300 pantries

we work with, 290 readily
signed the agreement

and chose to work forward

walk forward with us in serving
food insecure Iowans

and in other cases, we're
looking for new pantry partners.

We already have multiple points
of service.

The ten that opted out of the
contract with Food Bank of Iowa.

All right.

Here in the metro, we have
another 77 pantries right here.

Kim, if you had a wish list,
are there products

that you would like to buy
but you're unable to do so

because donations have fallen
below

the level that would allow you
to buy those products.

I would love to be able to have
a plethora of meat available.

I think that's probably
the biggest thing.

You know,
we always say for donations,

we'd like to have peanut butter

and canned fish, canned chicken,
all of those things.

But honestly, I'd really love
to have tubs of ground beef

and ground chicken and a whole
chickens and parts of chicken

that we can provide.

That is something
that's often limited at pantries

because there just isn't enough
meat available to purchase.

It's expensive to purchase,

expensive
for us to purchase, says,

even though when we buy in bulk,
we get a discount.

So that's definitely

the thing I would say is I'd
love to have meat for everybody.

And we did during COVID
with USDA,

we were getting a lot of meat
products

and also prior to inflation

we were getting a lot of

donations from

meat retailers and processors,
but some of that's dried up.

But you're right,
if we if it were Christmas,

I just want, you know, tons
of ground beef and ground pork.

And the second thing

and you didn't ask for, too,
but I'll give it to.

Is. Fresh food.

So we're really focusing
on having more

healthy options available,
locally grown items as well.

But I would love to be able

to have potatoes,
tomatoes, green peppers,

onions and carrots
every single day

so that everybody could have

as much of those regular items
as much as possible.

And they're expensive.

I talked to a mother last week.

She said
a bag of apples was $10.

Do I spend that $10 on a bag
of apples or ramen noodles?

Next month,
the legislators are going to be

returning to Des Moines
for a 2023 legislative session.

If you had the ear of lawmakers,
what would you say is needed

for food insecure Iowans
and to help your organizations?

Kim, I'll start with you.

I think we need to increase
SNAP funding.

We need to make sure
that the amount of funding

that's provided for families
that are accessing SNAP

is is that amount that they can
purchase their groceries with.

That,
I think, is the most important.

We'd also love to see

increased funding for

us to be able to continue
to purchase local food.

But having as much food
available

as is what really matters
at this point.

Yeah, we know SNAP lists
families up and out of poverty.

We saw during
the course of COVID

when there were maximum SNAP

benefits available
by the federal government.

We'd love to return to that
level of support and SNAP

helps families
who are they're working

or they're training for work

or they're on disability
of some sort.

So it's a great benefit.

There's a ripple effect
in the economy of 1.5

$0.04 per dollar or $0.54
per dollar ripple effect.

The other thing I'd love to see
State of Iowa do

is provide free breakfast
and lunch to all of our kids.

in Iowa today qualify
for USDA free and reduced price

breakfast and lunch.

But I think there are many more
that whose parents

probably haven't
filled out the paperwork.

But I do think every kid
should come to school, able

to have breakfast and lunch.

But they're the future.
That's our workforce.

We've got to invest in the kids,
in their education.

We're getting down
to our last minute or so here.

So real quick
and you mentioned Michelle,

the snap benefits
and they were increased

a little bit
during the pandemic.

And then earlier
this year, Governor Reynolds

ended that expansion and returned them to previous levels.

Is it safe to
assume you would have preferred

that higher level two
to stay longer and or.

I think I even heard
you say I've returned to that.

Yeah, certainly what

we would have preferred,
that's about $28 million a month

that we turn back
to the federal government

when that proclamation
was not moved forward.

So $28 million
a month into our state economy

through our grocery store
network was it was a big impact.

And it kept families
up and out of poverty.

There's got to be something
maybe we won't get

back to that level,
but there's got to be something

between where we are today,

where average SNAP benefit
is minimal up to that family's

lost about $200 a month
when that decrease was enacted.

Kim, about 10 seconds left.

If people have been
watching this

and they want to
help, has best to do so.

I would say get involved.

There's a local pantry in
your community or neighborhood.

Go talk to them,
see what they need.

From a donation standpoint,
maybe it's food,

maybe it's volunteers,
and maybe it's funding.

And you can also get connected

with any of our food banks
across the state as well.

Well, thank you
both for joining us here today.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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