Anyone who enters Door 8 near the Courter Center can see a room to the left filled with shelves and refrigerators. From dried goods to frozen meals, toiletries to school supplies, the DMACC Boone Food Pantry has everything a student needs, according to Erin Neumann, coordinator of the food pantry.
“First of all, we are open to everybody, we don’t have any income requirements, our goal is really to have everybody use it. To help their budgets go further because life is expensive and groceries are expensive,” Erin said.
The only thing needed in order to use the pantry as a student is the name, address, and how many people live in the household. There will be a volunteer outside of the food pantry ready to take the information.
“I think within our first week of doing the pantry . . . we had almost 70 visitors just in a week, and those numbers are trending up. That was our goal. We want everyone to use it, we want to reduce or eliminate the stigma.” She continued, “We really want it to be something where people take what they can use, and then keep some extra money in their pocket for other things they need.”
The inventory in the food pantry is always changing.
“Oftentimes I find frozen pizzas . . . ice cream, things like that go quickly,” Erin said.
Every two weeks, the Food Bank of Iowa donates a lot of products. Every Thursday, Hy-Vee donates baked goods. And Fareway donates whenever the food pantry is low on certain items. Faculty, staff and other individuals donate as well.
The pantry is located in room 170 and is open Wednesdays 3 – 5 PM and Fridays 11 – 1 PM. Anyone is welcome to come into the pantry during these times or schedule an appointment at a different time.
“I know that there is a demand or an interest in having it being open more than that. As we grow our volunteer pool, we will be able to offer more open hours too.”
To schedule an appointment call or text 515-635-1222 or 515-257-6208. And for more information, contact Erin Neumann at eaneumann@dmacc.edu