IARN — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg on Wednesday revealed food insecurity findings from the Feeding Iowans Task Force.
During a press conference at the Food Bank of Iowa, Reynolds said the 34-page report from the task force shows the number of Iowans experiencing food insecurity jumped 51% during the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Every day under normal circumstances hunger is a reality for one in nine Iowans,” said Reynolds. “These struggles often go unnoticed and are misunderstood. We assume that hunger affects only those in the most dire circumstances, when in reality food insecurity occurs much closer to home than we realize.”
Lieutenant Governor Gregg says the report highlighted the amount of federal money allocated to the state through the CARES Act. He says it totaled over $12 million.
“Over 38.4 million meals will be provided to Iowans through these Feeding Iowans Task Force efforts,” said Gregg. “Within those programs, we were able to deliver an estimated 600,000 servings of pork, 450,000 servings of beef and 700,000 servings of turkey.”
Gregg notes a few other ways the task force was able to help bring food to hungry Iowans.
“Through the bulk purchasing repackaging program that we created in partnership with AmeriCorps, there was 1.3 million pounds of shelf stable food distributed,” said Gregg. “Products like rice, oatmeal and pasta.”
To view the full report from the Feeding Iowans Task Force, click here.
