November was the busiest month in the history of the Des Moines Area Religious Council’s food pantry network, surpassing the previous record high set in August by 22%, the agency announced this week.

According to officials with DMARC, 26,469 individuals were assisted by the organization’s food pantry network in November, resulting in more than 30,000 pantry visits for the first time. It’s a “concerning rise” in traffic, DMARC CEO Matt Unger said in a news release.

“We are coming to grips with the prospect that this rate of growth is not sustainable anymore,” Unger said. “It’s terrifying. I usually try and seek out the silver lining in these situations, but this rise in people struggling to meet their basic human needs is akin to nothing short of an emergency. It isn’t happening miles away. Even if you can’t see it, this could be affecting your neighbors, your co-worker, or even your friends and family.”

The new November data shows that there were a record 2,292 first-time pantry visitors, continuing the 1 ½-year trend of an increase in the number of people seeking help from a pantry for the first time.

“Just after the pandemic ended, food security became an epidemic across the community,” Unger said. “So many households in our state are now fighting an increasingly uphill battle to meet their basic needs,” Unger said.

He said the increased need comes as more families have struggled to pay for housing, child care and transportation.

According to the release, which cites the United Way’s ALICE report, nearly 1 in 4 Iowa households don’t meet the minimum income threshold to cover basic needs. Despite relief provided during the pandemic, many households that fall below that threshold continue to struggle, falling below the “survival budget” of $2,876 per month. According to the ALICE report, a family of four must make $67,008 to be self-sufficient.

The release, citing Common Good, a nonpartisan, nonprofit policy advocacy and research group, stated that those same households in Polk County spend 15% of their monthly budget on food. Child care made up 22% of their monthly expenses, the release states.

“The overall cost of living is continuing to outpace wages, and many folks are struggling to find help,” Unger said. “The changes we are seeing will require a paradigm shift in the way our community addresses these challenges.”