The Des Moines Area Religious Council distributed a letter signed by 140 faith leaders from across Iowa that encourages Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg and Department of Health and Human Services Director Kelly Garcia to reconsider their decision not to participate in the 2024 Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children program. The federal program gives $40 per month to each child in a low-income family to help with food costs while school is out. “In the past several months, food pantries across Iowa have been overwhelmed by record-breaking need,” the letter states. “Our faith communities are going above and beyond to help meet that need. But volunteers are exhausted, financial resources are running low, and yes, some pantries are running out of food. Our state is in a food insecurity state of emergency. Right now, we all need to work together and use every available resource to address this crisis.”

States that participate in the federal program are required to cover half of the administrative costs, which would cost an estimated $2.2 million in Iowa, according to a Dec. 22 news release from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education. “Federal COVID-era cash benefit programs are not sustainable and don’t provide long-term solutions for the issues impacting children and families,” Reynolds said in the news release. “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.” The DMARC Food Pantry Network assisted over 65,000 people in 2023, and more than a third of them were children, DMARC spokesperson Blake Willadsen told Axios Des Moines.