DES MOINES, Iowa – Tuesday morning, members of the Urbandale Food Pantry were on hand at Whole Foods to receive the donation of a refrigerated van, as part of Whole Foods Market’s Nourishing Our Neighborhoods program. The van, filled with donated food, will be used by the pantry to help transport perishable items to community members in need.

Pantry leaders say the donation comes at the perfect time, as the pantry is serving more families than ever before, and with the ongoing government shutdown and the potential of SNAP benefits stopping, they’re only expecting that number to grow.

The pantry serves thousands of families monthly, and says they typically see an uptick with the holiday season approaching, with November being the busiest month. But say so far in October, the pantry has welcomed more than 150 new families that have never received a service before.

Starting November 1, more than 130,000 Iowa households could be impacted, as the Federal Food and Nutrition Service instructed the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services not to issue November’s snap benefits, which could increase the number of families needing food assistance. 

“We are trying to do our best to be able to continue to meet the needs with the potential for SNAP benefits running out. It’s a constant reminder that nonprofits cannot fill the gap that SNAP benefits did. In Polk County alone, that’s about $9 million of benefits that will end, but it’s also a domino effect. That’s money that’s not being spent inside grocery stores and in the economy that we have right now,” said Patty Sneddon-Kisting, the Chief Executive Officer of the Urbandale Food Pantry.

Sneddon-Kisting says during times like this, the pantry adds additional volunteers and inventory to ensure they can meet the community needs.

“Uncertainty for anybody weighs heavy on families. And so as families start to navigate what they need to do, we know that 40% of Americans are one paycheck away from poverty.”

However, Sneddon-Kisting says the pantry can’t do it all and they can’t do it alone, saying that in time like this, the pantry often sees the community help in ways they can to host food drives, volunteer and give monetary donations. To learn more about how you can help, click here.