Humboldt County Ministerial Association Food Pantry

Continuing on with the food pantry donations, Iowa Select Farms and the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation stopped by to see Nancy Johansen at the Humboldt County Ministerial Association Food Pantry where they strongly believe in their mission to alleviate hunger through the distribution of food. In operation since 1982, the Humboldt County Ministerial Association Food Pantry is supported mainly through donations collected from community food drives and cash donations. In addition to the food collected, they use the cash donations to purchase food and personal care items both locally and through the Food Bank of Iowa.

In 2015, they solicited, received, inventoried and distributed donated food and grocery items to a total 1,725 people in Humboldt County.
This is extremely valuable to the community of Humboldt since according to the pantry’s records, over 60 percent of the population is below 160% of the poverty guidelines leaving many people unable to provide proper food and nutrition for their families.

“Together we can and must do more. In 2015, we purchased 37,695 pounds of food through the Food Bank of Iowa at a cost of $4,313.04. That averages just under 11.5 cents per pound,” said Nancy.

The pantry averages 65 families a month, a total of 1,725 individuals, including 498 children and 333 elderly each year.
“We allow families to come in once a month and get one week’s worth of food to help feed their family,” said Nancy. “In addition to that, they are given a $20 voucher to take to their local grocery store with which they can purchase perishables like eggs and milk.”
“The community support we receive is amazing—all of the services we provide are available because of it,” said Nancy. “We get donations from service organizations, schools, businesses, churches, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, 4 H groups and many other generous individuals. We are so grateful for our community and for this pork loin donation, it will help us feed even more families.”

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