DMARC Food Pantry Network Serves Record Number of People in November

This November, the DMARC Food Pantry Network served more individuals and households in Greater Des Moines than any other month in its 41-year history.

“We were expecting this November to be our highest month of usage,” said DMARC executive director Rev. Sarai Schnucker Rice, “but we were not expecting to serve almost 3,000 more people than we did last November.”

In November, the DMARC Food Pantry Network served 21,079 individuals (8,518 households), an increase of 14% from November 2016. This is also the first month ever that the DMARC Food Pantry Network served over 19,000 individuals.

“Many people in our community are still struggling to make ends meet, despite Iowa’s low unemployment rate,” said DMARC communications manager Luke Elzinga. “Working families simply cannot survive on our current wage rates, especially with rising costs of housing, transportation, food and healthcare.”

The DMARC Food Pantry Network expects food pantry use to continue to climb for the foreseeable future. To learn more about the cost of living in Iowa, please refer to the United Way’s ALICE report for Iowa.

DMARC invites community organizations and individuals to host a fund or food drive for the Food Pantry Network. Today, DMARC can purchase three to six times more food with the same dollar than the average consumer. Learn how you can help today by contacting us at info@dmarcunited.org or 515-277-6969.