Food Pantries Prepare for Unprecedented Need
October 27, 2025
Des Moines food pantries are preparing for a historic pause in food assistance to the needy.
Benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP, are expected to stop Nov. 1 because of the federal government shutdown.
“This would be absolutely unprecedented in the history of the SNAP program,” said Kathy Underhill, chief executive officer of the Des Moines Area Religious Council, also known as DMARC. “We’ve never had benefits delayed or failed to go out on time.”
The result would affect millions nationwide -- 50,000 people in Polk County alone, or about 1 in 10 people -- half of them children or older adults, Underhill said. DMARC serves the community through 14 partner food pantries in the Des Moines metro area including Catholic Charities.
While nonprofits like DMARC, the Food Bank of Iowa, and Catholic Charities Food Pantry provide supplemental help, they cannot plug the financial hole in family budgets that lost SNAP benefits would leave.
“I want to be perfectly clear. Nonprofits cannot replace SNAP benefits,” Underhill said. “November is always the busiest month in the food bank and food pantry world. If SNAP benefits don’t go out on time in November, the capacity of food banks and food pantries will be pushed to their very limits.”
Catholic Charities Food Pantry in Des Moines, concurs.
“The work we do at Catholic Charities Food Pantry is really supplemental,” said Executive Director Mike Sheehy.
“There’s no way we can provide a solution that would solve the gap between what a program like SNAP can provide those types of clients,” he said.
“If SNAP is not coming in November, we expect to see unprecedented growth at the Food Pantry. While that would be difficult, we believe the Catholic community is always willing to step up to the best it can to find solutions and will be fully prepared to help as best it can.”
The Food Bank of Iowa, which serves 700 partner pantries in 55 counties, and DMARC also pledged to continue to provide food to the hungry if SNAP benefits were paused. But they would need support through donations and volunteers to continue to help the needy.
“We have a foundation of principles that are centered around Catholic Social Teaching and its those principles that drive us to have programs that support the most vulnerable and the underserved in our communities,” Sheehy said.
Catholic Charities Food Pantry served 21,000 people last year by providing a 3-day supply of food each month. It also served 600-700 people each day who come to the daily window for food rescued from generous organizations like Hy-Vee, Costco, Panera, Anderson Erickson, and others.
These donations help the organization carry out its mission to empower individuals and strengthen families in order to support a stronger community.
The fear gripping many families is real, said Annette Hacker, chief communications and strategy officer of the Food Bank of Iowa.
“Fifty thousand community members and a quarter million statewide who rely on SNAP are worried about having food on the table next month,” she said.
The Food Bank of Iowa gets 10 percent of its inventory from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and buys 57 percent of its inventory. The rest comes through donations.
“More Iowans need help with food. Food costs more, and it costs more to get it here. This is not sustainable long term. All of us are doing everything we can to meet the need,” she said.
What can we do to help?
First, call members of Congress and urge them to end the government shutdown, said Underhill.
Second, find your local food pantry and volunteer. Increased donations will mean a greater need for volunteers to sort and hand out food, she said.
Third, those who can donate should donate. While people like to hold food drives, the Food Bank of Iowa and DMARC have wholesale purchasing power and get more food at a lower cost with monetary donations, she said.
“It’s more effective to donate money that you can earmark or designate for food purchase only,” Underhill said.
For schools or youth groups that want to hold a food drive, the most needed items are canned meats, canned vegetables, pasta, rice, and peanut butter.
Despite the fear families are facing, and the concern of pantries to meet the need, representatives of Catholic Charities Food Pantry, the Food Bank of Iowa, and DMARC said they’ll be there serving people for as long as there’s a need.
“We’ve been here for a long time and we’ll continue to be here,” Hacker said. “But we’re going to have to get more creative how we source that food, how we deliver that food, how we fundraise. It’s a very, very challenging time.”
Where can I get help?