Ames Today

COVID-19 continues to shut down more businesses in Iowa, causing over 20 local food pantries to find their shelves empty. 

United Way of Story County is creating an emergency community fund and online food drive to help the local pantries serve the community with what it needs. 

Anneke Mundel, a community impact director for United Way, recently told the Ames Tribune the need for food will continue to increase. 

“Our numbers have gone up regularly since fall, and we have some of our pantries buying 6 or 7,000 pounds of food to keep up with the need every month,” Mundel said. “That was our normal before coronavirus, and now we can only anticipate that it is going to double or triple.”

This new fund and drive will replace United Way's annual Live UNITED Food Drive. It will be online only and people can donate on United Way's website. The drive has already begun. 

United Way also supplies mental health resources, which can be found on its website. 

Most Story County food pantries are keeping normal hours at this time, Mundel said. The pantries have also changed to a prepackaged model. This means staff members will bring a box of food to an individual's car when they arrive. 

If someone needs to visit the food pantry, they're asked to make an appointment ahead of time. 

The Salvation Army Service Center Administrator Cari McPartland said a pantry on East Lincol Way in Ames has seen an increase in need over the last six months. 

“The cost of living in Story County is high and something has to give; you need to pay your rent and utilities and things like that. Sometimes the food and medication is the last thing people think about,” McPartland told the  Ames Tribune. “We’ve ordered for the last two months, I think, 6,000 pounds of food every month, and we’re going through that." 

She also said that she expects the need for food to increase since children will not be in school but at home instead. 

Individuals can pick up food every five minutes, which allows about 25 people per day. 

Other local food pantries are using a model similar to this one. 

Pantries are in need of pancake mix and syrup, cereal, instant oatmeal, canned soups, hamburger and tuna helper, instant potatoes, egg and pasta noodles, mixed and canned vegetables, diced tomatoes and canned fruit, Mundel said. Other items are shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, tissues, dish and laundry soap, paper towels, diapers and wipes. 

Kresse said other local resources are coming together to make sure issues such as childcare and hunger aren't a problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. If individuals need resources, they can call 211 for help or can call United Way, Kresse said. 

It's also encouraged for individuals to call the CICS Mobile Crisis Line when they are feeling stressed and need mental health help, Mundel said. 

“We’re all in this together,” Kresse said. “We’ve got some of the brightest minds and the greatest resources in our community, and if we can tackle them together we will make it through anything.”