220 results for author: lelzinga

Did Lawmakers Forget About Food Insecurity This Session?

By Luke Elzinga | DMARC Policy and Advocacy Manager The Iowa legislative session has drawn to a close. Unfortunately, we saw little action to address hunger and food insecurity from our state government, despite several bipartisan legislative proposals. This is especially concerning when food banks, food pantries, and other anti-hunger organizations are facing record-breaking need across the state. Thankfully, with the help of our partners and advocates like you, we stopped harmful legislation, including efforts to create additional administrative hurdles to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for eligible non-citizens ...

Revised SNAP Bills Still Threaten Food Security in Iowa

Last week, House File 3 and Senate Study Bill 1105 both came before their respective House and Senate Health and Human Services Committees. Both passed out of committee with amendment as expected. The Senate bill passed along a party-line vote, and in the House, two Republicans (Rep. Eddie Andrews and Rep. Brian Lohse) voted against the bill along with all Democrats on the committee. HF 3 has been renumbered as House File 613, and SSB 1105 has been renumbered as Senate File 494. These newly-amended bills did make some improvements to the original bill language, but would still put Iowans at risk of losing their SNAP benefits due to new eligibility ...

SSB 1105 is a Step in the Wrong Direction for Iowa

Senate Study Bill 1105 is a bill in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee that targets the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Your feedback can ensure Iowans aren’t faced with additional barriers around hunger and food insecurity. A subcommittee meeting for SSB 1105 is scheduled for Wednesday, February 15, at 11:00am at Room 315. You can also join the subcommittee meeting online via Zoom. SSB 1105 contains a number of harmful proposals targeting SNAP and other public assistance programs, including: Establishing an asset test for SNAP. Households would face an asset limit of $2,750, or $4,250 if the household contains a ...

House File 3 Would Increase Food Insecurity in Iowa

Last week, House File 3 was introduced in the Iowa House with 39 co-sponsors. While we were pleased to see a $1 million appropriation for the Double Up Food Bucks program included in the bill (a top legislative priority for DMARC), there are a number of harmful proposals related to public assistance programs in HF 3. As such, DMARC is registered against the bill and encourages Iowans to speak out against this misguided piece of legislation. Specifically, House File 3 would: Limit SNAP purchases to only foods on the WIC-approved food list. This is an incredibly narrow and prescriptive list that only includes 23 categories of food items. ...

DMARC Breaks Single-Day Record of Food Pantry Use on January 3

The Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) Food Pantry Network assisted 1,614 unique individuals on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, setting a new single-day record of people assisted. The previous single-day record had been set two months prior on November 1, 2022, when 1,529 people were assisted. “To be honest, this caught us a bit by surprise,” said DMARC CEO Matt Unger. “And while setting this record was unexpected, it’s just one more reminder that the need in our community is incredibly high right now.” The DMARC Food Pantry Network has been experiencing heightened demand over the past nine months. A drop in SNAP benefits in April ...

Blake Willadsen Joins DMARC Staff, Luke Elzinga Shifts to New Role

The Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) welcomed Blake Willadsen to its team as Marketing & Communications Manager on January 3, 2023. Luke Elzinga transitioned to a new role as Policy & Advocacy Manager. “We are very excited to have Blake bring his experience and perspective to our team and for Luke to expand his role around the important advocacy work DMARC engages in around solving root causes of food insecurity,” said DMARC CEO Matt Unger. “DMARC’s mission starts with elevating the voices of the Iowans we assist. I can’t wait to elevate those voices and impact real change in our community,” said Willadsen. “I can’t ...

DMARC Announces Closure on Thursday and Friday Due to Winter Storm

The Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) is closing its office, warehouse, and DMARC-ket Southside Food Pantry on Thursday and Friday of this week due to expected severe winter weather. Many of the food pantries in the DMARC Food Pantry Network have already announced closures for Thursday and Friday, with more announcements expected in the coming hours. “If you need to visit a food pantry this week, please do so immediately today,” said DMARC CEO Matt Unger. “The DMARC-ket Southside Food Pantry and many of the food pantries in our network have announced closures for Thursday and Friday due to the severe winter weather heading our ...

2022-2023 Holiday Hours for the DMARC Food Pantry Network

DMARC's office, warehouse, and the DMARC-ket Southside Food Pantry will be closed December 26-30, 2022. The 2022-2023 holiday hours for the entire DMARC Food Pantry Network can be found below.

DMARC Statement on Shooting at Club Q

DMARC stands with the LGBTQ+ community in mourning the lives taken this weekend through a terrible act of violence at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Five people are dead, and numerous others injured, by an attack on a safe haven for queer people on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance. Hateful ideology has extinguished the innocent lives of Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Raymond Green Vance, Derrick Rump, and Ashley Green Paugh. This horrific act must be condemned by all. We mourn this tragedy, which joins a growing list of murders, assaults, and other forms of physical, emotional, and verbal abuse against queer people. Language matters. ...

So, What’s Going on with DMARC and Food Bank of Iowa?

We have been getting a lot of questions from our supporters and the public about what's going on with DMARC and Food Bank of Iowa, so we've put together a short FAQ to provide answers to some of the questions we've been receiving. So, what’s going on with DMARC and Food Bank of Iowa? Food Bank of Iowa terminated its partnership agreement with DMARC and 10 of our partner food pantries at the start of November. This means we can no longer place orders from their food inventory or access food rescue donations from certain retail stores in the metro area. Why did this happen? In September, the Food Bank of Iowa sent out a new contract addendum ...