Johnson County Crisis Center readies for peanut butter drive

IOWA CITY — The food pantry at the Crisis Center in Johnson County is gearing up for Spread the Love — a February food drive for peanut butter.

More information on the drive can be found on the food bank's website, jccrisiscenter.org.

Sara Sedlacek, communications and development director for the center, explains how the food bank is faring.

Q: How many people does the Crisis Center of Johnson County serve?

A: It's a 14.1 percent food insecurity rate in Johnson County.

It ends up being about 19,000 people. We see anywhere between 12,000 and 13,000 of those people. Last year, we did see a little bit of a dip in client numbers, not too much. We served 12,482 clients last year and that's unique individuals and that ended up being 4,583 households. So we see about two-thirds of those in the county who are food insecure.

Eighty-one percent of people who go to pantries are spending over half of their income on their housing. Housing in this community is really expensive. So in the winter, when utility costs go up, what do you cut out? You can't cut out rent. You can't turn off your heat. So you cut out food because we're here.

Q: What is the need for food like in January and February?

A: Our numbers remain pretty steady throughout the year. There is a slight increase in December and we can attribute that to a couple of things.

First, kids are out of school so there might be extra mouths to feed for a couple meals a day. Second, priorities are different. You've got heating bills to pay. Not everybody can make the decision about, 'Do I get gifts for my kids or buy food?' ...

Client numbers usually do go back down in January and they're even lower in February. Again, because kids are back in school, so they're getting that breakfast and lunch again so that need at home isn't quite as high. …

Q: How do donations change this time of year after the holidays?

A: There is a slight increase in food donations. ... Frankly, community donations make up a fairly small portion of the food that we distribute. We always appreciate the community donations because it adds a little variety in what we're able to distribute.

And then of course we buy it. And the financial donations really increase in November, December. Those end-of-the-year gifts, that's just when people give.

We bring in two-thirds of our revenue in December for the whole year, so December is a huge month fundraising-wise for us. That's really important because we can stretch that dollar so much farther.

And that drops significantly after the first of the year. I don't want to say we're scrambling but it's a big drop. We have made over half our revenue in the first six months of the fiscal year and then the last six months are definitely a lot slower.

So we really have to make sure we're stewarding those resources property to make sure that we keep our shelves stocked for the remainder of our fiscal year because donations do tend to be significantly lower.

Keep us in mind as winter continues. This is our low point so I'd just like to ask people not to forget about us after the holidays. We still need the support even though the giving season, as people kind of think about it, may be over that doesn't mean the need has gone down.

Q: What role does February's Spread the Love drive play?

A: Every year we do our Spread the Love campaign. We also have a couple of other theme months, as we call them. A lot of this is to raise awareness because people don't really realize. When you think about the protein that you feed your family, you're probably thinking all the meat that you buy. But meat is really expensive so peanut butter is one of the protein sources that we can provide on a regular basis. Peanut butter and tuna is pretty much what we're able to afford. ….

We had a lot of schools and day cares bring us peanut butter last year. And it's a fun thing. Kids like peanut butter so it's a really easy thing to get kids involved in.

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