DES MOINES, Iowa — Members of the community gathered for the Stuff the Truck food drive in support of the Urbandale Food Pantry.

The Urbandale Food Pantry opened a new facility in April and served more than 2,000 families in the first month alone. On Saturday, they partnered with local businesses Van Meter Incorporated and Baker Electric to pack Big Grove Brewery and fill a truck with non-perishable food, personal care items, and monetary gifts. In addition, all donations were matched up to $3,000.

The Urbandale Food Pantry served more than 57,000 people across 76 zip codes in 2024. They say it’s important to remember that even if they seem alright, families might need more help than you think.

“Food insecurity isn’t always visible, but it’s in every community, and hunger is rarely about food and more about impossible decisions that families have to make. So we can find fun and creative ways to get the community involved,” said Patty Sneddon, CEO of the Urbandale Food Pantry.

President and CEO of Baker Electric, Cory Sloss, says these events help build up the community.

“Des Moines is a small community when you stop and think about it and I think, the more you’re in it and the more business you do here, everyone is your friend, you have a lot of relationships here. It’s really about just coming together and helping each other with everybody’s mission, the more we tie that together the more successful we all are.”

Danielle Monthe is the Van Meter Community Impact Manager and says it’s encouraging to see businesses looking out for their neighbors.

“There’s a lot of great companies in the area that want to do good, and as the electrical industry is booming right now. So, when we can kind of use our growth to fuel the growth of human services and specifically the food pantry, that’s what we want to do,” said Monthe.

Learn about available services, volunteering, and more on the Urbandale Food Pantry website.