Johnson County agencies partner for food distribution event

IOWA CITY — A group of Johnson County agencies is coming together to host a Healthy Kids Iowa food distribution event Wednesday, July 30 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Pepperwood Plaza, located at 1045 Hwy 6 East, Iowa City.

Eligible families do not need to register or do anything before arriving during the Healthy Kids Iowa distribution time at the site location. Sites will be able to establish eligibility during their distribution time.

Requirements for eligibility are:

The income threshold of 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level is, for example, $59,477.50 per year or a family or household of four people.

Children do not need to attend and no preregistration to be eligible.

Healthy Kids Iowa was announced by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May and uses federal funding to expand the summer meal sites program that the state ran last year, where qualifying families were given a box each month over three months.

The program is an alternative to the Summer Electronic Benefit Program, now known as SUN Bucks, which gives households preloaded cards with $120 per child to spend on SNAP-eligible food to substitute for school meals during the summer months.

The Johnson County distribution event is being organized by CommUnity Crisis Services & Food Bank and Coralville Community Food Pantry, with the HACAP Food Reservoir, the City of Iowa City, Johnson County, United Way of Johnson and Washington Counties, Dream City, and Community Foundation of Johnson County.

An additional distribution event will be planned for August in Johnson County.