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With a history of alleviating hunger and reducing food waste, the Food Bank of Iowa has found it hard to fulfill that mission lately. With rising food costs, soaring gasoline prices and donor companies going out of business, the Food Bank is searching for a way to meet the demands of the agencies it serves.

“They’ll never tell you that there’s less food, but you just know when it’s not coming in, and that has been difficult,” said Karen Ford, executive director of the Food Bank of Iowa. “You can just look around town, you know – Colonial (Bread) isn’t here anymore; Archway Cookie isn’t up in Boone anymore; our best produce donor just called on a Monday and said they were closing that Friday; the SuperValu warehouse where we would get close to a million pounds of food, just the same thing.”

This harsh reality is forcing the Food Bank to find new solutions and make huge transitions, including buying food to keep up with the demand. For the first time ever, the Food Bank has had to allocate portions of its budget for food purchasing.

“We make it a restricted part of the budget so that it comes in to buy food and it goes out to buy food,” Ford said. “We’ve never been one to purchase food, but we’re purchasing food now.”

However, the need to purchase food is not the only hardship the Food Bank is experiencing. Most of the time, the organization has to use its own transportation to pick up donations, which can take workers hundreds of miles away.

Furthermore, the Food Bank makes biweekly trips to some of its agencies that don’t have the resources to come to Des Moines to get the food.

“Between the fuel costs and the food costs, it’s huge. And it’s not only huge for us, it’s huge for the agencies; it’s just unbelievable. We’re new to buying, so maybe that makes it not so harsh because we’re not used to seeing it a dollar less.”

Despite the economic stress, Ford remains proud of her nine-member staff and 25 years of service. Providing for 282 agencies in more than 42 counties, the Food Bank hopes to continue on its mission to alleviate hunger and reduce food waste. The organization has even broadened its mission internally to include education and advocacy targeted toward decision makers in the community.

“I think everyone agrees that hunger could be ended,” Ford said. “Because now when you say, ‘it could be your neighbor,’ now, it could be you who finds you can’t make ends meet.”