Floyd County Supervisors Hear Plea for Food Bank Funding

Floyd County has been asked for $25,000 to support new facilities for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank (NEIFB), based in Waterloo.

That’s NEIFB Director Barb Prather addressing Floyd County Supervisors recently about their campaign seeking funding assistance from each of the 16 counties in its district, which includes Floyd County (as well as Chickasaw, Mitchell, Butler, Howard, Franklin, Fayette, and Winneshiek counties).

She said that food insecurity continues to rise.

The NEIFB supplies food to the Charles City Mobile Food Pantry coordinated by Jen Burton. She told Supervisors that they serve 300-to-325 households a month with their first-Wednesday-of-the-month drive-thru distribution at the Floyd County Fairgrounds, with another some 80 deliveries to homebound recipients.

Supervisor Boyd Campbell asked Burton about the many volunteers needed to pull off that operation.

Burton is also part of the Floyd County Food Pantry in downtown Charles City, where they’ve ramped up “Food Rescue” efforts to meet the growing demand.

Supervisor Gloria Carr said the County is open to providing the NEIFB financial assistance, but it’s too early to know what’s feasible due to new state legislation impacting local budgets.

Supervisors encouraged Prather to renew her request in December or January, as the County heads into budget planning for the 2027-2028 fiscal year.

Prather said the Mitchell County Supervisors had already pledged $25,000 towards their Capacity Campaign.