The Des Moines Area Religious Council Food Pantry Network served nearly 24,000 unique individuals in August, the highest number in its 47-year history.

According to a news release, 23,886 people made 27,142 visits to DMARC food pantries in August, an 18% increase from August of 2022. That surpasses the previous record of 22,632 unique individuals set in November 2019.

The record month ends a summer that saw food insecurity increase in the metro, with DMARC serving a record 2,155 first-time visitors in August, officials with the agency said.

“When you look at the added pressure that households are facing to afford basic needs like food, sometimes it is easy to forget this is happening here in our community and not somewhere outside our state or country,” DMARC CEO Matt Unger said in the release. “It may not be visible in your day-to-day [activity] but this is affecting your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors … food insecurity is affecting people in every part of the metro.”

While August was the busiest month in its history, September started off busy, too, with Tuesday being the busiest day on record for DMARC food pantry network with 1,991 unique visitors.

DMARC’s food pantry network is made up of 15 partner food pantry sites and numerous mobile food pantry sites.

On top of record inflation, other economic factors like stagnant wages are adding to the strain on Iowans’ budgets, pushing more and more people to visit a food pantry for the first time, officials said.

“We are assisting more children (ages 0-17) than usual and seeing household sizes continue to grow,” Unger said. “Our typical food pantry visitor is not often someone who is dealing with extreme poverty or unhoused, it is more likely someone who has just hit a rough patch. With this many new individuals utilizing our pantries, chances are that you might know someone facing this issue.”