The City of Iowa City is holding a food drive on Friday to support CommUnity Crisis Services and Food Bank. Donations to Neighbors Helping Neighbors Food Drive will be collected between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Fareway off Mormon Trek Boulevard (2530 Westwinds Dr), the North Dodge Hy-Vee (1125 N Dodge St) and the eastside Hy-Vee (812 S 1st Ave).
“City staff will be on hand at the three grocery stores to collect groceries and to educate the public about what items are most needed,” according to a city news release. “All food collected at these locations will go to CommUnity Crisis Services and Food Bank.”
In addition to financial contributions, CommUnity lists the following items as the top needs at its food bank.
• Canned fruit in juice
• Peanut butter
• Canned meats
• Baby diapers
• Baby formula
• Rice and pasta
• Hearty soups and stews
• Toilet paper
• Laundry detergent
The federal government shutdown officially came to an end on Wednesday night, but the date on which SNAP benefits will resume has not been announced, as of this story’s publication. And even when SNAP benefits are restored, food banks and pantries in Iowa are still facing record-setting levels of need.
During the Johnson County Food Access Network’s news conference on Oct. 31, the day before the SNAP benefits lapsed, CommUnity program manager Ryan Markle described the kind of demand for services the nonprofit’s food bank was seeing even before the more than 10,000 people in Johnson County who rely on SNAP lost their benefits.
“This past Thursday, we served 285, which is a 60 percent increase in overall visits,” Markle said. “Likewise, our mobile pantry visits saw an increase of 95 households, while home delivery requests have increased by 71 households over the last two weeks.”
Food insecurity throughout Iowa has increased to levels that are straining the nonprofits that work to ensure Iowans don’t go hungry. The Johnson County Food Access Network was created last year to help those nonprofits coordinate their efforts and increase their reach.
Even as SNAP benefits return, they won’t be restored to everyone in Iowa. The One Big Beautiful Act (OBBA) that President Trump signed into law on the Fourth of July changed eligibility requirements, eliminating SNAP benefits for many groups of refugees and immigrants legally in the United States, including people granted asylum, Iraqis and Afghans who hold special immigrant visas because of help they provided the U.S. during the wars in their countries, as well as victims of human trafficking. None will be eligible for SNAP benefits unless they apply for and receive permanent resident status, a process that can take several years to complete. And even after getting a green card, they will still have to wait another five years before becoming eligible for SNAP again.
Western Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, has boasted about his role in writing the section of the OBBA that changed SNAP requirements.
“What we wanted to do is make sure those that are here illegally should not get SNAP benefits,” Feenstra told reporters earlier this month. “Again, we have to think about who’s paying into the tax fund, and that is all the taxpayers of Iowa and this country, and we have to take care of them first.”
Again, all the people who have lost SNAP benefits because of the changes Feenstra worked on are in the country legally. Undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for SNAP.
Next week there will be three more drop-off events for the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Food Drive. Donations will be accepted on Monday at Happy Hollow Park (800 Brown St), at James Alan McPherson Park (1858 7th Ave Ct) on Tuesday and at Wetherby Park (2400 Taylor Dr) on Wednesday. Hours for all three drop-offs are 4-6 p.m.
