Parish uses technology, messaging to boost food pantry support

November 13, 2024

Help for hungry and food insecure people has skyrocketed at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in West Des Moines.

“St. Francis is a shining example of how a faith community can grow their impact by giving cash over food, helping DMARC to take advantage of economies of scale, and help the most people possible,” said Leslie Garman, development director at the Des Moines Area Religious Council, known as DMARC. The interfaith group provides food to 14 pantries in the Des Moines metro area, including Catholic Charities and a mobile pantry system.

“Once a month our parish provides the opportunity to our parishioners to give,” said Father Joe Pins, pastor of St. Francis Parish. “The people’s generosity is appreciated by the parish and those the funds help to feed. We are here for the poor and lonely.”

Prior to the pandemic, St. Francis would hand out grocery bags monthly and ask people to bring them back with food or make a cash donation to support DMARC.

“For a parish of our size, the cash and food collected wasn’t amounting to much. We knew we could do more to help those in need,” said parishioner Randy Jensen. As a board member of DMARC, he had learned that by donating cash in lieu of food, DMARC could use this money to purchase up to six times more food and help more people.

Last year, the parish raised $42,000 for DMARC; this year, it expects that number to be closer to $50,000.

What changed?

Parish support was boosted by enhanced messaging. Parishioner and DMARC board member Randy Jensen explained that they needed to communicate why they changed to a cash-only collection and to keep the parish informed of the critical level of need along with the impact of their fundraising.

DMARC helped by providing educational materials and statistics that are used in pulpit talks, bulletin announcements, and other forms of parish media.

The parish also created a portal for St. Francis online food pantry giving with a QR code. The portal shows how much money parishioners have contributed to date, and provides other statistics about the effect of their giving. Parishioners can see that last year’s donations purchased food for 54,500 healthy meals.

And, they do the monthly collection in person with a dedicated team of volunteers.

On Food Pantry Sunday, Jensen and up to 20 volunteers wearing food pantry smocks work from “giving stations” in the gathering space. They personally greet parishioners, take donations, and provide information. This provides an opportunity to better inform parishioners about food insecurity and how their donations to DMARC are used.

^{Kip Augspurger, left, makes a donation to Randy Jensen, right, who is a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in West Des Moines and a board member of Des Moines Area Religious Council. He helped boost donations for DMARC’s 14 food pantry network.}

“St. Francis turned their food pantry support into a monthly cash drive to help more people,” Garman said. “If I had my druthers, given this extreme need, I would ask every faith community to give cash. Imagine how much that would help us.”

Food insecurity continues to set new record highs and the need is great. This month, DMARC expects to see more than 30,000 people at its 14 pantries. Last year, it served 27,450 people in November, the highest need month on record.

For Catholics, feeding the hungry is a Corporal Work of Mercy.

Jensen sees their effort at St. Francis as “the one body of Christ working together to give help and hope to those in need.”