October 24, 2022

The Grinnell Food Coalition (GFC) is currently partnering with other organizations in the community to continue to address food insecurity among area residents. A food cupboard will be established at the Drake Community Library, support for the MICA food bank and the Tiger Packs programs is ongoing, re-starting of the community meal is being planned, and GFC is communicating with other organizations addressing food insecurity. GFC is accepting contributions toward its ongoing work.

GFC is a group of community volunteers who came together in 2020 to help address food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic. GFC initially provided vouchers redeemable for food at local grocery stores and the Farmers Market, then transitioned to distributing boxes of food when those became available from the federal government. According to one of the founding members, Joe Bagnoli, GFC continues to meet on a monthly basis to assess ongoing community needs.

“Food insecurity persists,” Bagnoli says. “GFC is working to imagine what it looks like to serve the issue of food insecurity in a post-pandemic context.”

GFC and Drake Community Library, in partnership with MICA, will establish a food cupboard at 930 Park St. to help with food access, beginning Monday, Oct. 31. The cupboard will act as a supplement to the MICA food pantry at 609 Fourth Ave. in Grinnell. The intent is to help people get over a rough patch and get through until the end of the month when their benefits renew or to make it to their next paycheck.

The cupboard will be in the entryway of the west entrance to the library on Park St. The doors to the library are open Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“We hope that the longer hours the library is open will increase access to food in emergencies until people can get to the MICA Food Pantry,” says Karen Neal, library director and GFC board member, noting that the library has been a distribution point for GFC food vouchers.

“We hope a food cupboard at the library will replace the need for food vouchers,” says Jennifer Cogley, director of partner programs for the Claude W. and Dolly Ahrens Foundation (CDAF) and a GFC board member.

A Grinnell College student will stock the pantry three hours per week according to Ryan Solomon, who facilitates community engagement opportunities for students at Grinnell College and is a GFC board member. Items included in the pantry will be limited to canned soup, ready-to-eat meals, ramen, fruit cups and cereal, purchased locally.

GFC is also partnering with the MICA food pantry which has experienced sharply higher demand from a complex of circumstances: reduction of federal food assistance in April just as significant inflation set in and a change at the Montezuma food pantry. Bagnoli explains that Montezuma pantry volunteers contacted GFC to say their volunteer corps consists of older people who cannot handle the increased demand from Grinnell families struggling with food insecurity in current conditions.

MICA distributed 88 food boxes in September of 2021, and 331 boxes in August of 2022 according to Mindy Clayton, MICA’s Poweshiek County family development center manager. The MICA food pantry is now a choice pantry where families can choose items from among what is available. According to Clayton, MICA needs volunteers who can work regular shifts greeting families, stocking shelves and keeping the pantry neat.

GFC according to Bagnoli is working with MICA to help with funding to meet increased need. Cogley adds that MICA has sources from which food can be purchased at lower prices than at retail stores, so GFC is focusing on helping to find increased funding to support that purchasing.

GFC is partnering with Tiger Packs, the CDAF partner program that provides weekly packages of food to students in preschool through eighth grade, and support for the GHS Invisible Closet. Cogley says Tiger Packs are now going to 350 PK-8 students weekly, including Head Start youngsters, a 19 percent increase from last year. Tiger Packs are provided without charge to students, and families can request their children receive the weekly packages in the school front offices.

Each Tiger pack costs $4.85, consists of food purchased locally, and is packaged every other week by a group of 15 to 20 volunteers working at the Grinnell Christian Church. Individuals or groups interested in volunteering for a packaging session can contact Cogley at 641-236-5518, extension 109. Tiger Packs also supports the GHS Invisible Closet with $2,000 per semester to purchase food items.

GFC is partnering with Grinnell College’s Center for Religion, Spirituality and Social Justice (CRSSJ) which until the pandemic had steered the community meal program which hosted a free hot meal every Tuesday evening at Davis School for anyone who chose to attend.

Cogley says plans are being formulated to re-start the community meal after the first of the year. She explains that CRSSJ organizes college students to help, and community groups volunteer to handle cooking and serving on specific dates, usually a team of five to ten people working under supervision of a school cook.

Cost of the weekly meal is around $400 for groceries and salary for the school cook, according to Cogley. Some groups have volunteered and covered food costs. Other groups can volunteer time and GFC and CRSSJ will partner on costs. Those interested in volunteering to cook and serve can contact Cogley.

Bagnoli says GFC remains interested in hearing ways the organization can help address food insecurity. GFC was recently informed that those addressing food insecurity could distribute as many as 150 dozen eggs per week if they were available and that a vehicle routinely used in addressing food insecurity is showing signs of aging. He says GFC is looking into ways to address those needs and any others brought to the attention of the board.

The Grinnell City Council at its Oct. 17 meeting allocated $15,567.40 in Campbell Funds to GFC for its food access programs, and CDAF has allocated $15,000. Private donors can also contribute online at https://ahrens-familyfoundation.org/local-resources/. Checks to support GFC may be sent to CDAF, Post Office Box 284, Grinnell, Iowa, 50112.

GFC is a partner program fund of the Claude W. and Dolly Ahrens Foundation and also receives support from Drake Community Library, Grinnell Area Chamber of Commerce, Grinnell College, Grinnell Mutual Group, Imagine Grinnell, Local Foods Connection and local churches and schools.

Those who want to help address food insecurity can also donate food or money to MICA to support the food pantry on Fourth Ave. Donations of clean, reusable bags for use at the library food cupboard can be dropped off at the library during open hours.