As Urbandale Food Pantry outgrows its space, city to help pay for new location

Overflowing with hungry families and struggling to find enough space to store food, the Urbandale Food Pantry plans to acquire a new building to meet the community's needs.

It's getting help from the city as it prepares for the purchase and implements a multi-year plan to address issues including food insecurity and access to transportation and affordable housing.

Patty Sneddon-Kisting, the pantry's executive director, said the increasing need for assistance is "a stark reminder that many people face the daily struggle of putting food on the table."

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Urbandale City Council on April 16 approved a development agreement with the pantry for its purchase and renovation of the building, described as its new "principal place of business," at 7901 Douglas Ave.

The about-7,200-square-foot, two-story, brick-veneer office building at the new location would be more than twice as big as the space Sneddon-Kisting said the pantry currently occupies at the nearby Cedar Ridge Shopping Center at 7611 Douglas Ave.

And site plans for the new location — approved April 22 by the Urbandale Planning and Zoning Commission — call for adding on more than 1,500 square feet of space in a vacant area behind the building.

“We’re at capacity where we’re currently at," Sneddon-Kisting said. She said the pantry is constantly having logistical conversations of where to put the 100,000 pounds of food delivered to it every month as it accommodates needs that amounted to 1.4 million pounds last year.

And it isn't just the food. The Des Moines Register observed on an evening in mid-April that people were waiting in a line out the door for client intake services. Sneddon-Kisting said it's that way every day, no matter the weather.

The development agreement with the city offers the food pantry $470,000 in capital projects funds to help buy the new property so long as it enters into a purchase contract before May 1 closes the sale before May 15.

The property was valued at $495,000 in 2023, according to Polk County real estate records — $167,000 for the building and $328,000 for the more-than 38,700 square-foot lot. The property was last sold in 2019 to its current owner, BMKAR LLC, for $410,000.

The development agreement would require the pantry for 20 years to set aside space in its new home, including 77% of the second fooor, for other organizations that deliver services identified in the city's human services plan.

The city and the food pantry will mutually agree on who the other tenants will be, but the city's human services strategic plan — which the City Council also approved April 16 — identifies needs in the community including increasing access to food assistance; improving the quality, ridership and available routes of public transportation; increase the supply of affordable housing, expand English language learning support programs, and bolstering the affordability and availability of child care and youth development programs.

Addressing food insecurity and housing affordability are the city's top priorities, according to the plan.

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For the food pantry's new office Sneddon-Kisting said, "As we finalize a new location and evaluate renovation needs, we'll determine the precise financial resources required. We urge our community to join us in this crucial effort, ensuring that everyone has access to essential food support."

She added that a feasibility study "confirmed what we've known all along": that a new location is "not just a dream, but a tangible and financially viable opportunity."

People can donate money to support the food pantry at secure.givelively.org/donate/urbandale-food-pantry and can also watch for a future capital fundraising campaign, Sneddon-Kisting said.

Information about other donation and volunteer opportunities is available at urbandalefoodpantry.org.

Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Urbandale Food Pantry moving to larger location, city helps pay for it