Competitive Drives Raise Over $5,000

Last week, a number of companies around Greater Des Moines held competitive Iowa vs. Iowa State food drives, leading up to Saturday's game. In total, over $5,000 and nearly 2,000 food items were raised for the DMARC Food Pantry Network through their efforts! When we come together to support a good cause, everyone wins. We would like to thank the following organizations that supported DMARC through a competitive drive: The Dana Company: 603 food items Ligutti Tower, Newbury Living: 265 food items Lincoln Savings Bank: 140 food items McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith: ...

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DMARC Announces Two New Mobile Food Pantries

DMARC is pleased to share that it will receive two new Mobile Food Pantries, thanks to the generosity of Gregory and Suzie Glazer Burt and Variety - the Children’s Charity, who have provided funds to pay for the truck and trailers and the cost to retrofit both mobile pantries. The Partnership for a Hunger-Free Polk County will cover the remaining costs of the operation and DMARC will operate them and provide the food for both mobiles. The new mobile pantries will help children in the greater Des Moines community, thanks to the collaboration and partnership with ...

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Stamp Out Hunger 2018 Was a Huge Success!

On Saturday, May 12, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) held their 26th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive across the nation, and the DMARC Food Pantry Network was the local beneficiary of the food drive in the greater Des Moines area. That Saturday, letter carriers around the metro collected food donations from mailboxes and doorsteps, which were brought back to their local post offices, and then transported to the East Grandstands' Hall of Law and Flame at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. All together, 63,402 pounds of food were collected during Stamp ...

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We Need Your Help


Our Statement on H R 2

The Des Moines Area Religious Council supports a bipartisan Farm Bill and opposes some proposed changes to SNAP which are included in the House Republican Farm Bill (H R 2), specifically those having to do with expanding the existing work requirements and eliminating categorical eligibility. While we do not oppose work requirements in theory, we believe the proposed changes will do more harm than good. The truth is, most SNAP recipients who are able to work DO work – only 14% of all families receiving SNAP benefits in Iowa’s third congressional district as of ...

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Diaper Drive Rocks Thanks to “33 and 1/3 Year Anniversary” Event

On Friday, April 20, 2018, DMARC supporters Carl and Susan Voss held a "33 1/3 Year Anniversary" event, along with a diaper drive to benefit DMARC! The Voss' know that SNAP dollars do not cover diapers - and that they are a huge need in our community. Attendees submitted their favorite albums and a DJ was available to play them. The album covers served as name tags. Attendees also made contributions to DMARC's diaper fund. In total, the event raised $993.33 for DMARC, enough to purchase 6,785 diapers! Thank you, Carl and Susan, for your incredible support of ...

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Ray Society Course on Interfaith Relationships

Join Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott, DMARC Coordinator of Interfaith Engagement, and many friends from the across the spectrum of faith at the upcoming Ray Society Class "Building Bridges: Interfaith Relationships." The four sessions will take place Mondays April 30, May 7, 14, and 21 from 10-11:30. For more information or to register click here: http://www.drake.edu/raysociety/ Diversity is not good. Diversity is not bad. Diversity just is—and it’s a fact of our changing world. Rather, the good or the bad is a result of our response to that diversity. This course ...

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Stamp Out Hunger

May 12-19 On Saturday, May 12, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will be holding their 26th annual Stamp Out Hunger® food drive, and DMARC needs your help to sort tens of thousands of donated food items! How You Can Help We are organizing hundreds of volunteers to help us date-check, seal-check, and sort these food items from Monday, May 14 through Friday, May 18, and additional volunteers to help with clean-up on Saturday, May 19. Shifts are only two hours long - perfect for individuals and groups! For more information, please contact DMARC's ...

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6th Annual Douglas M. Woods Challenge Hunger Campaign

This article originally appeared in the Feb/Mar/Apr 2018 issue of The Voice. DMARC is excited to announce that loyal contributor Doug Woods has doubled his annual “Challenge Hunger” match from $10,000 to $20,000! For retired West Des Moines police officer Doug Woods, the convergence of “The Grapes of Wrath,” a primitive southern Iowa home, and a Bible verse led to his self-described “spiritual awakening”—and, soon after, the launch of the first Douglas M. Woods Hunger Challenge to benefit the DMARC Food Pantry Network. Doug was a picky eater as a ...

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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 ...

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