AMES, Iowa — The Ames Community School District is fighting student food insecurity with a district pantry. 

The HOPE pantry is located at the Ames Center and opened last fall. At the time, the shelves were usually bare. However, just one year later, the pantry is stocked with non-perishable foods and toiletries. 

To access the pantry, families need to fill out a form online. These requests are confidential and are only shared with the Family Resource Support Advocates in Ames schools. The FRSAs fill the request for families. There are no income guidelines or proof of income required, but recipients must be Ames residents and have a student enrolled in one of the district’s schools. 

Families can access the pantry two times per month, excluding any emergencies. They can either pick up a food box from the HOPE pantry, or the food box will be sent to their child’s school for the student to bring home or parent to pick up from there. FRSAs will coordinate distribution plans with the family directly. 

Anna Fagervik is one of the Family Resource Support Advocates who oversees Northwood Preschool and Sawyer Elementary. She said the district saw a need in their community and wanted to help find a solution. 

“To kind of offset some of the financial burden that we were seeing from the housing, because housing here is pretty expensive,… we thought, let’s have like a main source where they can go to get all of their needs met,” she said. 

School officials said there were pantries in three district schools, but creating a centralized location will help all families get access. 

Fagervik said there were 230 food box requests during the last school year, and they’re on track to have more by the end of this school year. She also said this roughly means between 25 and 30 families are assisted every month. 

“It’s so important for our families to see that they have a community that’s willing to help and that really wants to be there,” said Fagervik.

The pantry’s success is largely because of the community’s support, as several local organizations help keep the shelves stocked. 

On Wednesday, over 30 community members gathered at Inis Grove Park to collect and organize donations for the HOPE pantry. The event was called Celebrate Community, and different local groups like the Kiwanis International, Lions International, Altrusa, Optimist International, Rotary International, and more took part.

District officials said the event was so successful. The surplus of food that the HOPE pantry didn’t need went to other local pantries, like MICA, Food at First, Bethesda, and Salvation Army.

Erica Briest of the Ames Evening Lions Club said, “[Students] go to school without stuff and it’s nice to know that they can come right here and be able to get the things that they need.”

The Ames Center is located at 1323 Northwestern Avenue in Ames.