Mid-Iowa Community ACTION – Food Pantry

Round up at the registers this September in support of the MICA‘s Food Pantry!

MICA’s food pantry has expanded their offerings to the community – not only do they offer their Ames food pantry, but they also now deliver to families in need who are unable to leave their homes or visit MICA’s center. In their co-located WIC Clinic, they help increase nutrition and food access through WIC and Breastfeeding Peer Counselors programs, which support new mothers who are learning how to breastfeed.

The food pantry is a choice pantry – it allows families to select from a variety of foods (e.g. proteins) to help maximize equity, make sure more foods are used fully, and ensure that the food pantry experience feels accessible, especially to families who are new to our community. MICA also has a refrigerator that allows distribution of perishable goods like milk and eggs, and food rescue to help families receive baked goods and in-season produce from local partners, as well as a hygiene pantry.

MICA serves enough people every month through their Ames food pantry that they would just about fill the main floor seating in Stephens Auditorium, and about a fifth of those would be people they had never seen before. Over half of them would be children.