North Liberty Community Pantry to break ground for $4 million facility

NORTH LIBERTY -- The North Liberty Community Pantry will break ground for its new $4 million facility at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The 10,500-square-foot building, to be built at 350 W. Penn St., is to be completed by the summer of 2025.

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The current 2,400-square-foot pantry, at 89 N. Jones Blvd., has run out of space and has been relying on community partners, such Fareway and Field Day Brewing, for freezer space, Ryan Bobst, the pantry’s executive director, told The Gazette in June.

The new facility will have 4,000 square feet set aside for food storage, with a 550-square-foot, walk-in refrigeration system. Around 1,000 square feet is reserved for the clothing closet, more than double its current size.

Last year, the pantry distributed 588,000 pounds of food to people — more than twice the amount distributed in 2021. In addition to food, the pantry also offers feminine hygiene products, diapers and toiletries.

The pantry serves residents from all of Johnson County except for Coralville and Iowa City. If someone from those two cities visits the pantry, they are given prepackaged groceries and referred to food banks in their community.

The North Liberty pantry also offers grocery delivery and is on pace to hit 2,400 deliveries this year, Bobst said.

“We are grateful for the support we have received from the community,” Alison Bates, a food pantry board and co-chair of the Planting New Roots capital campaign, said in a news release. “We have discussed this project for quite some time, and it is great to see it become a reality.”

The new space also will have a conference room and a volunteer training center. Bobst said there’s room for a big garden and possibly a “hoop” house to grow fresh food during the winter.

“This new facility will be nearly four times as large, bring food and clothing under one roof, move us closer to many of the families we serve, create a private space to better serve families with needs beyond food and clothing, and allow for adequate storage capacity to meet the needs of our neighbors today and into the future,” Bobst said in a press release.

Paying for it

The pantry has received $278,000 from the city of North Liberty, with $250,000 of that from American Rescue Plan Act dollars. The other $28,000 came as a social services grant in the city’s 2025 fiscal budge .

In addition, Bobst said the pantry has raised more than $850,000 for the facility. The $4 million price tag includes the purchase of the land, construction of the building and new equipment.

Other fundraising efforts are ongoing.

Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com