Des Moines, Iowa — The leader of Iowa’s largest food bank is urging Iowa lawmakers to provide state funding for the six major food banks in Iowa.
Michelle Book is president and CEO of the Food Bank of Iowa, which distributes food in 55 counties.
Book made a direct appeal to Governor Kim Reynolds during an online forum earlier this month. Book also made an indirect reference to the governor’s decision to turn down federal funding for summer food assistance to low-income households with children.
Reynolds responded briefly, but did not commit to the idea of a public-private partnership with Iowa’s six Food Banks.
Reynolds recently notified federal officials Iowa would no longer participate in a program that provides 40 dollars a month for each child in a low-income family, to help pay for food while school is out for the summer. In a written statement released December 23rd, Reynolds said COVID-era cash benefit programs are not sustainable and this program did nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.
