Postville Food Pantry and School partner to offer meals to kids

The Postville Food Pantry and Postville Community School District are partnering together this summer to distribute food to school-aged kids in the area, as a replacement to what was previously a federal program.

Since Governor Reynolds opted-out of a federal program that added $40 to the SNAP (Supplemental Food Assistance Program, also known as food stamps) cards of parents with school-aged children, she set up a program called Healthy Kids Iowa as a replacement for that through area food banks.

However, that means that local food pantries must set up their own programs to distribute the food.

“This started because of a desire to feed Postville kids in the summertime. Since there is no summer school, these kids are missing a noon meal,” Barb Herzman, Postville Food Pantry director and volunteer, said.

Herzman said she shared that concern with the Postville School Superintendent, Brendan Knudtson, who agreed that they needed to find a way to provide meals to kids, and offered the Postville school’s lunch room and storage for the project. 

Herzmann noted that the Food Pantry itself served 111 families and 200 children on one of the days they were open recently, which means there are many children in need of food in Postville, while noting that that the figure of 200 does include children under the age of four (who are not included in the program to feed school children). 

Herzmann said families can expect to receive $40 of food for each child of fruits, vegetables, dairy, whole grains, and protein. Since this program is only intended to replace school lunches for school-age children (ages 4-18), families that need food for any age of family member are still eligible to receive food from the Food Pantry as usual. 

Food will be distributed on June 20, July 18, and August 8, from 9 a.m. to noon on each of those days. People who are coming to pick up food for their children are asked to come to the north doors of the lunchroom in the Postille School elementary building. 

While Herzmann expects the supplies of food to be adequate, they are sent from the regional food bank in Waterloo, who controls the amount received, so they are not unlimited. 

“We will distribute the food as supplies last,” she said. 

Superintendent Knudtson has sent out an email to families with school-aged children, according to Herzman, but they are trying to get the word out as much as possible and are still seeking volunteers. 

“We’ve already had a good response from people that want to volunteer, but we can always use more. They can go on the Pantry Facebook page (to contact the Pantry about volunteering),” Herzman said. 

The Pantry’s Facebook page can be found under Postville Food Pantry, and offers regular updates about programs offered and happenings at the Pantry. It also offers a detailed chart showing income guidelines for families interested in receiving food for their school-aged children through the Healthy Kids Iowa program.