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Healthy Kids Iowa provides qualifying families $40 worth of food per child this summer. Here’s what is included
‘We’re learning as we go’ as distribution sites in Eastern Iowa struggle to keep up with demand in first week
Jun. 22, 2025 4:45 am, Updated: Jun. 23, 2025 7:44 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — The $40 worth of food Brandy Lowery got this month for each of her children through the new Healthy Kids Iowa program is “actually helping” her make ends meet.
Lowery was one of hundreds of families to pick up food Wednesday from the state’s summer feeding program Healthy Kids Iowa, which provides low-income families with $40 worth of “fresh and nutritious food” per child per month in June, July and August.
The distribution of Healthy Kids Iowa is being overseen by the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) in their seven-county service area. They expect to serve more than 8,000 children this summer through the program, said Kim Guardado, food reservoir director at HACAP.
A list of the 45 distribution sites in HACAP’s service area — which includes the counties of Linn, Johnson, Benton, Cedar, Jones, Washington, Iowa and Jackson — can be found at hacap.org/hki.
A full list of sites can be find online at hhs.iowa.gov/healthy-kids-iowa.
Lowery picked up her food at Cedar River Academy, one of four elementary schools in the Cedar Rapids Community School District that will be a Healthy Kids Iowa site this summer.
There are 258 sites across the state offering different days and times for food pickup.
Some distribution sites Tuesday in Eastern Iowa struggled to keep up with demand, running short on food, staff and volunteers.
Family members and neighbors picked up food for those who qualified and were unable to make it in-person to the distribution sites this week.
Heather Butterfield, spokeswoman for the Cedar Rapids Community School District, said families picked up food for 800 children at Johnson, Cedar River Academy, Trailside and Hiawatha elementary schools between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The district handed out all the food provided to them Tuesday by HACAP.
The school district is reaching out to area companies to see if they can get refrigerated trucks donated to them on distribution days to be able to store more food and serve more families.
“This was our first one. We didn’t know what kind of turnout to expect,” Butterfield said.
Guardado said they are working to “fine tune” distribution with community partners to ensure there’s enough food at each site for the number of children they will serve.
“One partner might hope to see 100 children and 25 show up. Another partner might plan to see 100 and 200 show up. We want to make sure we’re serving people where they are,” Guardado said.
“We want to keep in mind is it is a pilot project and we’re learning as we go,” she said.
How to get food through Healthy Kids Iowa
Eligible families do not need to register or do anything before arriving during the Healthy Kids Iowa distribution time at the site locations. Sites also will be able to establish eligibility during their distribution time.
Requirements for eligibility are:
- Households at 185 percent or below the Federal Poverty Level
- Households with children aged 4-18 years old
- And households that have already self-attested to eligibility for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) with children aged 4 to 18.
This is what food families can get
For each of Lowery’s four children, she got her choice of frozen beef, chicken or turkey and four cans of tuna, Nutri-Grain bars, frozen hash browns, fruit cups, cereal bowls, juice boxes, ground beef, shelf stable milk, a bag of frozen chicken nuggets, a carton of eggs, two bags of string cheese, apples, a can of corn, a can of mushroom soup, a chicken pouch and a can of black beans.
Large amounts of food — due to multiple children in a family — might be challenging for families to store.
Guardado suggested families with two or more children split up their food pick up. For example, a family with four children could pick up Healthy Kids Iowa food for two of their kids the first half the month, and the other two kids the second half the month, she said.
Guardado said there’s more “buying power” with buying food in bulk for the Healthy Kids Iowa program, which means families get a lot more than they would spending $40 at the grocery store.
At some sites, families do have more choice in what food they take — as long as it’s equivalent to $40.
Susan Clark, chair of the North East Linn Area Food Pantry in Coggon, said they are letting families choose what food to take — as long as it’s equivalent to $40. She expected families to pick up for about 55 children Wednesday.
“It’s a waste if you give food to people they don’t like or won’t use,” Clark said.
Healthy Kids Iowa an alternative to SUN Bucks
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.
A similar proposal submitted to the USDA by the state in 2023 and the plan for this summer, initially submitted in November, were both rejected under the Biden administration.
Reynolds resubmitted the proposal earlier this year when President Donald Trump assumed office, and it was approved.
The Iowa Hunger Coalition said Summer EBT is more accessible for families, especially those in rural areas of the state, who struggle to reach summer food distribution sites and food programs due to geography or work schedules, The Gazette reported in May.
“I think there are good things about the program and good things about the alternative,” Guardado said. “Certainly with this program, families get a lot of food.”
Lowery, who works as a health secretary at Grant Elementary School during the academic year, does not get paid over the summer. She works 10 to 20 hours a week at a part-time job over the summer.
“I have a family to feed,” Lowery said. “I don’t get a lot of food assistant because we’re on the cusp income-wise.”
The food she received from Healthy Kids Iowa “actually helps,” Lowery said.
Lowery said she does miss SUN Bucks for times when she has to pay out of pocket for a gallon of milk or box of noodles, for example. “This program — you’re only allowed what they give you,” she said.
Susan Petersmith went to Trailside Elementary School Tuesday where she waited in line for 30 minutes to pick up food for her child. She said she misses SUN Bucks, which enabled her to buy the organic produce her family wanted.
“I don’t think it’s a bad program, I just think they’ve done it so much better in the past,” Petersmith said of Healthy Kids Iowa. “So many people, including us, are struggling with grocery bills right now. I appreciate the supplement and for our family, one box of food is something we can eat before it expires.”
Petersmith said her family is able to pay their monthly expenses. But any unexpected expenses — like car maintenance or a medical bill — can throw off her family’s budget. Food “ends up on the bottom of the list sometimes to pay your electric bill,” she said.
Michelle Trapp, who also picked up food for three of her children Tuesday at Cedar River Academy, applauded the program.
“We don’t qualify for a ton of assistance, so anything else,” Trapp said. “We pinch our pennies where we can, and this is really cool.”
Maya Marchel Hoff of the Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.
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