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Since starting at the North Liberty Community Pantry in June 2023, it has been my not-so-secret mission to end our limits on food. I came to this organization in large part because of its stated values around combating food insecurity:
We believe everyone has the right to be free from hunger.
We believe everyone has the right to self-determination or to make their own choices.
We believe everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
These are unconditional and unqualified statements. Yet we had put conditions and limits on what it meant to be ‘free from hunger’ or what it meant to have ‘self-determination’. Those conditions and limits affected the level of dignity and respect we were truly offering our neighbors.
For years, the North Liberty Community Pantry and most food pantries across the country have distributed food with limits – perhaps only 1 frozen meat per household, 2 dozen eggs per household, or 3 canned proteins per household. These limits are implemented with the best of intentions, to ensure resources would stretch as far as possible. So that everyone could get something.
Though well-intended, these measures placed an undue burden on our neighbors we are trying to support. Case-in-point. In February of 2024, the North Liberty Community Pantry made the difficult decision to reduce the frozen meat limit from 2 per household to 1 per household due to a shortage of our supply of frozen meat. The first morning of this change in limits to frozen meat, a woman came into shop and learned of the change. She told me through tears, “I have a family of eight, how am I supposed to feed them this week?” The stress and worry from this hardworking mom trying to make sure her family has enough food was apparent.
Johnson County Public Health completed a Food Security Assessment in August 2024 and found that 46% of respondents reported skipping or reducing their meals in the past month because they did not have enough money or food. We also learned through Family Surveys that neighbors we serve have experienced a shift in their needs since prior to the COVID Pandemic. In February of 2020, 20% respondents to our Family Survey said we provide their household with a majority of their food for the week. Most families were shopping at the Pantry one to two times per month. Yet in the Spring of 2024, 80% of respondents to our Family Survey said we provide their household with a majority of their food for the week. Now families are shopping three to four times per month and we are not a supplemental source of food, but a primary source of food. The feedback we were receiving, especially from larger households, was that even though our limits on food were equal – 1 frozen meat per household – these limits were not equitable.
Each family has unique needs based on their household size, income, other food sources, social support, health, etc. This information and the experiences our neighbors were sharing made it clear that we as an organization, were asking neighbors experiencing food insecurity to figure out how to get more food. Our good intentions with limits were making food insecurity worse, not better. This spurred our team into action. We sought additional grant funding and donations for food purchases to supplement our supply and we took on the burden of sourcing enough food rather than rationing it. Our Director of Operations, Leslie Alvarez organized our inventory and ordering to the point where we were able to consistently get a steady supply of a variety of foods for distribution.
On May 21, 2024, the North Liberty Community Pantry took the momentous step of ending limits on all food items. At first, there was some trepidation about whether the food would last. Concern that we would run out of items we normally had. Our message to our neighbors was “Take what you need.” At first, many neighbors were rightly skeptical and repeatedly confirmed multiple times that there were no longer limits on food. Tears often flowed again, but this time out of relief and appreciation. Our message of encouraging our neighbors to take what they need has connected. Since removing limits, we have not run out of food any more than we used to.
By removing limits on food, we:
Ensured more families are free from hunger.
Fostered equity by allowing access to the resources required by each family, regardless of their unique needs.
Restored dignity and respect by allowing neighbors to choose what they need, without the constraints of arbitrary limits.
The dignity provided by limit-free shopping for a basic human need is genuinely appreciated. Many families regularly comment on feeling dignified and respected by being allowed to shop for their family's needs each week. Our October 2024 Family Survey found that 97% of neighbors we serve reported experiencing an improvement in their food security with the help of the North Liberty Community Pantry. The Pantry distributed a record-breaking 732,000 pounds of food to a record-breaking 3,400 neighbors in 2024.
We need help to continue to meet the needs of our neighbors and keep our shelves full. A monthly recurring donation of $25 per month provides enough food for 1 neighbor to ensure all their meals are met for the month. Thanks to the generosity of donors and volunteers, our neighbors can experience food security by equitably distributing food without limits.
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