Community hub serves diverse needs at Urbandale Food Pantry

By Lisa Rossi

After moving to a new space earlier this year, the Urbandale Food Pantry has launched a community hub of services to help tackle not just food insecurity but also other needs community members may be facing.

The community hub “gave us this unique opportunity to reimagine what food support looks like,” said Patty Sneddon-Kisting, CEO of the Urbandale Food Pantry. “Food insecurity is just one small piece of a larger poverty problem, and hunger, to me, is rarely about food and more about impossible decisions that families have to make.”

The hub aims to serve families where they are, when they are already coming to the food pantry, Sneddon-Kisting said.

“Can we bring services to them here in more of a better together, one-stop type of experience?” she said. “With that, the community hub vision came to be, and it’s really just about having conversations with our partners and the organizations in saying, ‘Hey, we have space. Come and do what you do in our space.’”

Two organizations are currently using space in the hub: Broadlawns’ WIC program, which is USDA’s special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, and Project Iowa, a nonprofit organization that offers support and training services to Iowans seeking better careers.

“The aspiration is to have several organizations providing services here, and we are being very intentional about how we add partners,” Sneddon-Kisting said in an email. “We’re in the process of creating a wrap-around service policy to help guide that, since the type of service [year-round, seasonal, or event-based] and the evolving needs of the community will shape what makes the most sense.”

She said there isn’t a set number of partners the hub can ultimately have.

“The goal isn’t simply to fill space, it’s to make sure each partner reflects a true community need and together we’re offering the right mix of services,” she said.

The new food pantry in Urbandale opened in April and Broadlawns WIC started with the organization in May; Project Iowa started right away, Sneddon-Kisting said.

The idea for the community hub is rooted in other food insecurity efforts in the region, Sneddon-Kisting said. She sat on the steering committee of the Central Iowa Food Security Plan and also was part of the city of Urbandale’s effort to undertake its own health and human services strategic planning process.

“So you have all of these community plans that are really great road maps,” she said. “They need a partner to actually implement them.” 

What she wants people to remember is that food insecurity is in every community.

“And whether you know it or not, there’s somebody in your child’s class, the person you sit next to at church on Sunday, someone you see in the grocery store, someone you love, I almost guarantee you, is utilizing a food pantry, and if not now, eventually there will be somebody that you love or support that will likely need some type of support in their lifetime,” she said.

Sejla Alagic, a Broadlawns WIC nutrition educator, is among those who work on site with people coming to the food pantry.

“They kill two birds with one stone,” Alagic said. “You’re getting your WIC benefits, but you’re also getting that emergency food support all in one place.”

She said by being on site, she’s able to encourage more people to use the food pantry. She encourages them to do their WIC appointment and then stop downstairs at the front desk.

“When we finish our appointment, I’ll walk them down there,” she said. “And I’m like, ‘You just need your driver’s license, and then you can get some extra food.’”

She said she wishes more people understood that there are resources to help. In addition to WIC and the food pantry, there are food stamps and other organizations out there, such as Mary’s Helping Hands Iowa, which provides baby clothing, hygiene products, maternity items and other essentials to those who are pregnant or have a child under 2.

“I don’t want them to feel alone because they’re not alone,” she said.

Natosha Morrison is a client who uses the Urbandale Food Pantry and WIC. She walks everywhere because she has anxiety about riding in vehicles. She was in a motorcycle accident that caused brain damage and other health issues.

She’s married and her husband drives an Uber. She has two children, a 4-year-old son and a daughter who lives with other family members.

She’s been a client of the food pantry for about four years, and lately has been getting chicken planks, snack food and milk from the facility. From WIC, she receives assistance for items such as juices, vegetables and cereal, she said.

“I don’t have to walk three places,” she said. “It’s such a nice building. The staff are amazing people.”