Food Insecurity

[Host] The number of hungry Iowans has increased at a rate higher than most other states. We'll talk about the efforts to feed Iowans in need on this edition of Iowa Press.

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For decades, Iowa Press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers from across Iowa and beyond. Celebrating more than 50 years on statewide Iowa PBS, this is the Friday, December 6th edition of Iowa Press. Here is Kay Henderson.

[Henderson] Food insecurity in Iowa is at record levels. Our guests today are leaders of organizations addressing that need. They are Michelle Book. She is the CEO of the Food Bank of Iowa. She is retiring at the end of this month after nearly nine years of leading and growing the organization. The Food Bank of Iowa serves 55 of Iowa's 99 counties and distributed enough food for 21 million meals this year. Welcome back, Michelle.

[Book] Thank you. Nice to be here, Kay.

[Henderson] Di Daniels is a Board Member who helps lead SALUD!. It's a multicultural health coalition in Storm Lake. The organization is the Food Bank of Iowa's local partner in Storm Lake. Beyond food security, SALUD! does a lot of other work to help improve the health and wellbeing of the immigrant community in her community. Thank you both for being here.

[Daniels] Thank you.

[Henderson] Joining the conversation is Stephen Gruber-Miller of the Des Moines Register and Erin Murphy of the Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

[Murphy] So, Kay talked about the record need that is out there. We wanted to start by having you guys help us get a clear picture of exactly how great that need is. And Michelle, we'll start with you. What are some of the top line numbers? Help us get a sense of how big an issue food insecurity is in Iowa right now.

[Book] Well, we really saw the explosion in food insecurity following COVID. COVID, of course, immediately there was a lot of trauma with people losing their jobs, losing income, so we stepped in at that time. Thought we'd get a chance to catch our breath when COVID subsided, but it didn't. April of '22 when the Governor decided not to resign the public health proclamation around COVID, federal poverty relief programs sunsetted at that time. And at the very same time, landlords could evict, energy companies could turn off power and inflation hit all developing countries around the world as a response to supply and demand issues that were produced during COVID. So, initially April of '22 we saw double the line, triple the line in many of our communities because people were just suddenly hit with additional costs, revenue hadn't kept up, their income had not kept up with that and the lines just got longer.

[Murphy] Yeah, and so as Kay alluded to, you're seeing continued setting of new record numbers, correct?

[Book] Month over month since April of '22 our distribution has escalated. In the last two months, we have distributed 2.5 million pounds of food each month in October and November. Those are record setting distributions for Food Bank of Iowa over the course of our 42-year history.

[Murphy] Di, how about in the Storm Lake area? What are you seeing?

[Daniels] Right, in Storm Lake we have had hunger issues for a long time. My awareness came in 2015 when we had an AmeriCorps worker come and give us the statistics. Statistics can be very convicting. And we immediately in our coalition realized that we needed to give place for food security. And there's a lot of other organizations in Storm Lake doing that. Upper Des Moines was probably the go to for the beginning and it just wasn't meeting all the needs, it couldn’t because of its restrictions on income. And so other organizations started rolling out their own plans and we began pulling together those organizations in something called the Hunger Dialogue so we could keep track of each other and assist each other and collaborate. And I agree with Michelle that once we started these things it was already a lot of work. But COVID hit and it just blew us away. And since then, it feels like we are still operating in crisis mode. Numbers that were back then have -- in talking to the different organizations, the different churches that are in this arena -- our numbers have doubled and tripled.

[Gruber-Miller] Both of you mentioned kind of the impact of COVID on the food insecurity issue in Iowa. Michelle, you mentioned several of those factors. Is that still what is driving the records now? Or have some -- I mean, some of those things were a couple of years ago. You're talking about 2022. Is that still what is driving the need? Or are there other factors at play?

[Book] The Food Bank of Iowa is a member of the Feeding America network and we know Feeding America studied this over the last several decades that when there is a significant financial impact such as a recession or what happened during COVID that it often takes three to five years for those folks that are living on those lower economic rungs of the ladder to recover. But then also I think what continues to perpetuate the problem are some of the decisions that we make in state public policy that turn federal poverty support funds back to the federal government. So, I think there's some of those things that are also complicating the problem.

[Gruber-Miller] Di, what is driving the need in Storm Lake?

[Daniels] I think the recovery from COVID, yes, that appears that it has gone well although like Michelle says there is a lag. In particular, the one arm that we started with during COVID was called Friends with Food because we identified who couldn't get to the, not to the Food Bank, but to the pantries. And that was, of course, those that were homebound because of COVID and we started out with about 30 and then once COVID receded there was still plenty of homebound people. And a lot of the people we deliver to are elderly and on a fixed income. But we also have, delightfully so, we have a large number of immigrants in our community. We have a majority of minorities in our community where over 50% speak a different language in their home and there's like 27 to 33, sometimes hard to pin down how many languages we speak. But as immigrants come in there are special needs and sometimes, they arrive with nothing. And so, there is that chronic need to supply them and get them on their feet.

[Book] Since 2020, food prices have increased 25% since then and income has not kept up with that. When I talk to our pantry partners in Storm Lake and around the state the lines are formed, that bigger line, a lot of younger families, younger households, people with children, people who are working but not able to make ends meet. One in six working Iowa households do not have enough income to cover the cost of basic needs and overall, over a third of the households in Iowa don't have the necessary income to pay for essential expenses. So, as prices continue to increase and income has not kept up with that, it creates a gap and that gap is filled by people like Di in Storm Lake.

[Henderson] Well, your organization serves 55 of 99 counties. What can you tell us about the percentage of those who are served are kids under the age of 18?

[Book] There are 345,000 Iowans that are estimated to be in need of food assistance. And of that, 100,000 are children. Last year across the state of Iowa, 42% of our kids received USDA free and reduced breakfast and lunch at school. I think the number that are eligible is probably much higher but a lot of families either don't have the wherewithal, the ability to fill out the forms, or they are afraid to fill out the forms. I think it's likely that 50% of our kids are food insecure across the state of Iowa and could take advantage of free and reduced breakfast and lunch if it were more available to them.

[Henderson] Di, you mentioned that you're serving some homebound people, senior citizens on a fixed income. What percentage of the folks you're serving are senior citizens and what percentage of them are children? Do you know?

[Daniels] So, specifically with Friends with Food, which is the one that delivers to their home because they may not have transportation, they may be permanently or temporarily home bound, but of that particular list I'd say 60% are elderly, fixed income and particularly the senior housing where that is low income but also disabled. It also mirrors the same demographics that Storm Lake has, people of different nationalities. So, we do have children on ours as well because a lot of those are on our list of Friends with Food because a lot of those are new families to town.

[Henderson] They may not have transportation to get to a food pantry is what you said earlier.

[Daniels] Exactly.

[Book] Well, and a single adult, any adult in the state of Iowa must gross about $29,000 a year to just float the boat, cover basic needs. That is not saving for an emergency, retirement, nothing extra. But average disability in the state of Iowa is $12,000 and average Social Security in the state of Iowa is $11,000. So, there's a big delta there and if you don't have a pension or other savings that you can rely upon, those are the seniors that we're seeing are really desperate for the help and they have to make difficult decisions between food or prescriptions or heat or keeping gas in a car. Those are tough decisions to make for any of us.

[Murphy] So, in order for you folks to serve the people that you're trying to you have to have your own infrastructure. I'm curious to hear from both of you and Di we'll start with you. We've just established how great the need is, how it is continuing to grow at record levels. How are your organizations, Di how is your group able to maintain enough infrastructure -- and Stephen will ask about people later -- but just even physical space to be able to help everyone that you need to?

[Daniels] And it is a struggle. And we depend on the generosity of our community. I know in particular one, the mobile food pantry, the Kiwanis are in charge of that. They have had to change locations I think five or six times and it's a major upheaval. And Friends with Food is fortunate to partner with local churches. Our local churches are very involved. And so, I get that space free of charge and it's wonderful. But our other social capital is people, volunteers. We're all getting a little bit tired, but we're not going to give up. So, we are fortunate to have that infrastructure of people and people with buildings that are willing to share.

[Book] Storm Lake is really unique. It's an incredibly collaborative community and what I see there is that Di and the rest of the community come together to make sure that there is a very complete safety net in place for people across Buena Vista. It's an absolutely incredible community.

[Murphy] And Michelle, how about for the Food Bank of Iowa? Literally millions of people that you help serve. Physical space, storage, cold storage, how are you able to keep up with that need? Are you, I should say, are you able to keep up?

[Book] It's a constant foot on the pedal. We can't take the foot off the pedal. In 2018, we renovated the existing facility in Des Moines that is in the northeast corner of Des Moines. In 2018, we also acquired a failing Feeding America food bank in Ottumwa and brought that into our organization. We doubled our distribution space in the Des Moines facility, went from 30,000 square foot to 60,000 square foot last fall. We have upgraded from three trucks that were falling apart in 2016 to a fleet of 20 today. And of course, we needed to add drivers, we needed to add more warehouse as well. About 600,000 pounds of food were moving through the Food Bank back in 2016 and today it's about five times that.

[Gruber-Miller] Yeah, and Erin alluded to this but I'm curious, you mentioned a little bit about volunteers and staffing. Do you have the people you need to get food to everyone who needs it?

[Daniels] We depend heavily, we're all volunteers. I don't know that anybody is paid in this particular function. It's just a very caring community. And I'm starting to just really recognize that our volunteer base is as diverse as the people we're serving. When you were talking about who we are serving, when I'm in the line helping with the mobile food pantry it's everybody. It's not just one certain population, it's everyone that is in that line now. So, you just recognize people and sometimes you wonder how bad it is. But you just have to go to the grocery store and we understand too that even though a wage may look pretty good at $20, $22 an hour, it's not a living wage. So, unsustainable.

[Book] As we visit our pantry partners across the state, what we hear over and over again is a lack of volunteers. As our communities get older and people are retiring and church membership isn't as strong as it used to be we are losing a volunteer base in rural Iowa that many of us depend upon to take the food that last few feet, to hand it to the neighbors in need. So, volunteerism is going to become even more and more of a problem.

[Gruber-Miller] And Di, you mentioned a couple of times the variety of the immigrant community that you work with in Storm Lake from different national backgrounds. Are there particular challenges reaching some of those folks, either language barriers, needing to get food that is culturally appropriate? Are there other things that you need to focus on to reach them?

[Daniels] Yes, yes and yes, all of that. And just because people are food insecure doesn't mean you give whatever to people. We do try and I'm appreciative of the Food Bank of Iowa that does try to diversify very much what they offer us. When rice and beans are on -- that's the first thing we get, everything like that, the basics. The challenges are communication, right, and building trust and making sure that people understand no strings attached, this is for you. But they can come out of a background that makes them suspect as to why they are getting this food.

[Henderson] Michelle, the Farm Bill has expired. Congress is allegedly going to include it in some sort of massive package and extend it for another year. But food banks depend on the USDA for a lot of the money. So, if it doesn’t get extended what happens?

[Book] What happens, today about 50% of the food that we distribute from Food Bank of Iowa is USDA commodity food. And that food has proven to be over the last few years very healthy, nutritious food. It helps the food banks serve neighbors in need. It also helps our local agricultural producers as well keeping prices up. But we are concerned that we'll see a lack of USDA food coming our way in upcoming years. And of 2.5 million pounds that we distributed in November, a million and a quarter of that came from USDA. We have 37 trucks that will arrive at the Food Bank of Iowa to unload in December and 24 of those are USDA loads. So, it is critically important that we continue to be supported in that way by the USDA.

[Henderson] Is it eggs, milk? What is it?

[Book] You know, USDA commodity foods started in the 1980s with the blocks of orange cheese and today the variety is just astounding. Over the course of my time at Food Bank of Iowa we receive leg of lamb and whitefish. Today we get a lot of frozen fruits and vegetables, we're getting meat, eggs, cheese. We get a lot of dairy from the USDA. But we get canned fruits and vegetables, fruits that are light syrup, vegetables that are low sodium. So, it's very nutritious food and a lot of it is shelf stable, but we also get fresh produce from the USDA. We had oranges come in, we had apples come in and when those things arrive at the Food Bank of Iowa, we get them on inventory immediately and they fly out the door.

[Murphy] Michelle, one of the USDA programs that helps, at least is designed to keep people from becoming food insecure is the SNAP program, food assistance program. I'm curious to hear in recent years the federal government added some work requirements to people who receive SNAP benefits. The state added some asset tests. So, if you had so much in assets you weren't eligible anymore. Have you seen any evidence of those requirements pushing people off of SNAP and needing help from food banks instead?

[Book] Thank you very much for that question. There have always been work requirements around SNAP. SNAP has never been a giveaway. So, the federal government also does an annual audit, a regular audit of SNAP, SNAP fraud is less than one percent. So, in the last couple of years our state legislature has worked to put more requirements around SNAP at the state level just for Iowans. And an asset test and also ID verification process, just even as people -- and these have not gone into effect yet but we're certainly working, the government is certainly working to get that in place, even as we talk about it over the last couple of years, we've seen fewer people reaching out to apply for SNAP. And SNAP utilization in the state of Iowa is at the lowest point in its history. So, folks, of course our immigrant population, they are especially concerned in what it means to apply for SNAP benefits and stay away from that if they can at all survive without it.

[Gruber-Miller] One of the other state policy issues that has come up recently the last couple of years, Governor Reynolds has opted out of the summer EBT program, which is designed to get kids who are eligible for free and reduced lunch at school food over the summer, money to pay for food over the summer. She wants to use the $29 million to pay for basically a food box distribution system where families could come and get a monthly box of food. Michelle, I know you've expressed some concerns with this in the past. I'm curious, if you could lay those out for us and maybe talk about that compared to summer EBT, what it offers?

[Book] Well, I'll start by saying I'll support any program that helps us feed kids, that puts dinner on the table for families with children. The summer EBT program was intended to put $120 on an EBT card for each child that had received free and reduced breakfast and lunch the year before in school. And then that gives those families the option of going to the grocery store to buy fresh produce and milk and eggs and those things that they know that their family will enjoy and will eat. But when we provide a box of food, it's all got to be shelf stable and then we have to find a way to distribute it as well. Either we have to get that to them or they have to come to a location to get it. So, they're going to the grocery store most likely anyway because they need other staples for their household. It would sure be nice if they could just get their groceries, their summer EBT funding in the form of an EBT card so they can buy groceries just like you do and you do and you do, Kay.

[Henderson] I'm wondering what corporate consolidation in the food processing industry and in the grocery industry, what sort of impact that has had on food banks and feeding America? Michelle?

[Book] Well, I said before that 50% of the food that we distribute comes from the USDA. 30% of the food that we distribute comes from donations from processors, wholesalers and retailers. And Kay, as we see more and more of that in the industry, those donations are shrinking, getting tougher for us to access. And when we don't have donations coming from food processors then we have to pay for food, buy food just like Hy-Vee and Fareway does out on the open market.

[Gruber-Miller] I want to give both of you as a chance as we get into the last couple of minutes here, for the viewers who are watching, if they need assistance, if they know someone who needs assistance, how do they go about getting that? Where do they go? And we'll start with Di.

[Daniels] In our community, we're a small community so those that have the resources at their fingertips are well known. And we know, in fact, one of the things that SALUD! started in the last year and a half was a community health worker program. And so, those are the resource gurus. It is upon us to know what is in our vision. And so, that becomes established rather quickly. And then you get the calls all day and sometimes into the night. And we are able to point people in the right direction. So, I would say if you find one person that is in the know and has those resources, they can quickly direct you to others, other names and numbers to get the help they need.

[Gruber-Miller] Michelle, where do you recommend people go?

[Book] Please come to our website, foodbankofiowa.org. Click the find food button, put your zip code in and an abundance of services in your immediate area will populate. We provide phone numbers and addresses, encourage people to call first to make sure they're not wasting gasoline if the hours have changed. But across our 55 counties we have 700 partners that are boots on the ground making sure that Iowans in need of food assistance are getting what they need this holiday season, especially as we go into colder weather.

[Henderson] Michelle, you mentioned percentages here. What percentage of operations of the Food Bank of Iowa are donations from individuals?

[Book] Well, we are 100% donor funded and our budget right now is a little bit more than a million dollars a month and that is all private, corporate and foundation support. Over the course of the last nine years, since I've been at the Food Bank, we have raised about $90 million in capital and operating funds and a small dribble of that has come from state of Iowa. So, we're not government funded, we are private funded.

[Henderson] To both of you, thank you for sharing your views on this subject and good luck as the holiday season draws near.

[Book] Thank you, Kay.

[Daniels] Thank you.

[Henderson] You may watch every episode of Iowa Press at iowapbs.org. For everyone here at Iowa PBS, thanks for watching today.

Funding for Iowa Press was provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation.

The Associated General Contractors of Iowa, the public's partner in building Iowa's highway, bridge and municipal utility infrastructure.

Elite Casino Resorts a family run business rooted in Iowa. We believe our employees are part of our family and we strive to improve their quality of life and the quality of lives within the communities we serve.

Across Iowa, hundreds of neighborhood banks strive to serve their communities, provide jobs and help local businesses. Iowa banks are proud to back the life you build. Learn more at iowabankers.com.