CommUnity Crisis Services

One afternoon per month feeds local families without access to grocery assistance. The Mobile Pantry visits a variety of underserved locations in our community once per month to provide free grocery assistance to our neighbors facing hunger. This is where you come in - due to recent cutbacks and funding uncertainty, we need to lean on our wonderful volunteers now more than ever! Sign up to be a recurring monthly Mobile Pantry volunteer at https://buff.ly/B3LR7Pz

We had a blast at the Iowa City Fencing Center over the weekend??! Thank you to everyone who came out to support our mission and BIG thank you to @IowaCityFencingCenter! If you want to find out more about fencing lessons visit https://lnkd.in/gkpkX93c For more information on our organization visit https://lnkd.in/gZ6tpvdx

?? The Western Hills Mobile Pantry is canceled for today due severe weather conditions ?? If you are able to travel to the food bank, we will be open until 4:30 p.m. tonight. To request food delivery, please visit https://lnkd.in/ggyyijty and scroll to the bottom of the page!

? Urgent Need ? Recurring Mobile Pantry Volunteers Can you spend one afternoon or evening per month giving back to our community? Many of our neighbors in underserved and rural areas of our community are unable to travel to the food bank due to disability or limited access to transportation. We need your help to ensure our neighbors facing hunger can access reliable grocery assistance every month through the Mobile Pantry. Learn more and sign up at https://buff.ly/B3LR7Pz

Will you be in downtown Iowa City this week? Consider donating much needed items to your neighbors! Bins will be located at the New Pioneer Co-Op and Iowa City Public Library from 3/17 - 3/24. ?? #helpyourneighbors For more information, please visit icgov.org/GreenIowa

Shout out to Brian, a wonderful volunteer who helps keep our administrative campus looking spiffy and welcoming for clients! Brian even repainted our bike racks and fixed our little free library ??

In fiscal year 2024, CommUnity's Mobile Pantry provided groceries to 2,110 neighbors facing hunger. This is a massive operation for our staff, and we would not be able to do it without our current volunteers! If you're looking for a low-commitment, high-impact volunteer opportunity, sign up to volunteer at one Mobile Pantry per month. Our Mobile Pantry volunteers help load the van with food, set up tables with groceries (think free farmers market style), and connect with our neighbors who are unable to travel to the food bank due to disability, limited access to transportation, or age. Sign up for your first pantry at https://buff.ly/B3LR7Pz

Funding that our local food network was counting on has been dramatically cut. Many local organizations and farmers made investments and decisions based on the promise of this funding, and are now left without a clear path forward. Our friends at Field to Family were asked to scale up operations to meet the demand for 2025 - they increased staffing and infrastructure and worked with their producer partners to scale up operations as well... Their executive director told partners this morning "By making this decision, the USDA has sent a message that investments in these programs are not a priority, that Iowa farmers receiving fair pay for the food they grow is not important and we couldn’t disagree more. Investments in farmers and food grown for our communities make us stronger, healthier and resilient.” As for CommUnity, this is one of many recent moves that limits our ability to provide our neighbors with fresh, local food - and enough food to bridge the hunger gap. We expect to not only see an increase in the amount of food our current clients rely on us to provide, but will push many families to need our services for the first time. We also expect to ramp up mental health support for farmers who have been affected by this sudden change in funding for their livelihood. https://buff.ly/LuDySON

Join us for an Introduction to Fencing class with Iowa City Fencing Center from 6-8 p.m. Saturday, March 15! 100% of the class fees will be donated to our organization. Preregister by phone or email to reserve your place. Visit https://lnkd.in/gkpkX93c for contact info!

We are in need of recurring monthly Mobile Pantry volunteers to help provide groceries to our neighbors facing hunger. The Mobile Pantry visits apartment buildings in rural and underserved areas of our community once per month to ensure our neighbors who are unable to travel to the food bank have access to food. Can you join us at one pantry per month to help set up this necessary service and connect with our community? Learn more at https://buff.ly/B3LR7Pz