Supervisors hear of impact made locally by Northeast Iowa Food Bank during funding request, approve 28E Agreement with UERPC regarding County Child Care Coalition
by Joe Moses
The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, July 13 to address a full agenda of matters including the consideration of bids for full-depth concrete pavement patching, a funding request by the Northeast Iowa Food Bank and the consideration of an appointment to the Veterans Affairs Commission. The meeting was held at the Allamakee County Veterans Museum.
The meeting was called to order by Board of Supervisors Chairperson Tom Clark with Supervisor Dan Byrnes present. Supervisor Dennis Keatley was not present due to a scheduled absence.
Following the time allotted for Public Comment, the meeting moved into the Funding Request by the Northeast Iowa Food Bank with the organization’s Director of Development, Marketing and Communications Abby Turpin providing a brief introduction for the matter by Zoom web-conferencing. Northeast Iowa Food Bank Executive Director Barb Prather, also via Zoom, continued with an overview of the organization’s services provided to Allamakee County, in addition to the organization’s entire 16-county service area in northeast Iowa.
Prather made note of statistics specific to Allamakee County in which she advised that one in eight individuals experiences food insecurity, approximately 12.5 percent of the county’s population, with one in six children impacted by food insecurity. Prather also discussed the organization’s mission in providing access to food with the assistance of local partners including Postville Community Support, the Allamakee County Food Shelf, and the Lansing Iowa Food Trust (LIFT).
Prather advised that approximately 330,000 meals annually would be necessary to close the meal gap in Allamakee County with the Northeast Iowa Food Bank providing over 200,000 meals last year. She also discussed the increasing level of food insecurity within the county, suggesting an expansion of freezer and cooler space may be necessary to better allow for perishable food items to prevent food from being turned away that could go out to those in need.
Prather and Byrnes discussed the organization’s $25,000 funding request with Byrnes noting that a five-year commitment of $5,000 per year to reach that requested amount may be an option from a budget standpoint and in light of the changing make-up of the Board of Supervisors. No action was taken at Monday’s meeting relating to this discussion matter.
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