The Des Moines Area Religious Council has opened a food pantry at its headquarters on the city’s south side, the first brick-and-mortar food pantry DMARC will staff and operate as an organization. A grand opening is scheduled at the new pantry, at 100 Army Post Road, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Matt Unger, DMARC CEO, said the new south-side food pantry fills a gap in the agency’s service area., with the nearest food pantry being 3 miles away. “And with a WIC office, St. Vincent de Paul, IMPACT Community Action Partnership, IowaWORKS, and several medical clinics nearby, we hope to create a ‘care corridor’ on the south side where people can access multiple services within a short distance of each other,” Unger said. He said the opening of the food pantry comes as the DMARC food pantry system experiences one of its busiest times in its 46-year history, serving more than 20,000 individuals and nearly 2,000 first-time visitors in August, a new monthly record. “The need for food pantries in our community has never been greater,” Unger. The new food pantry, called the DMARC-ket Southside Food Pantry, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the first Saturday of the month. The DMARC food pantry network consists of 15 partner food pantries, and multiple mobile food pantry locations across the Des Moines area.

Iowa Stops Hunger is a Business Publications Corp. initiative to bring awareness and action to food insecurity in Iowa. Read additional stories on Iowastopshunger.com.