Program areas at Des Moines Area Religious Council
The DMARC Emergency Food Pantries strive to meet the short-term needs of the food insecure in our area. We serve people seeking assistance through one of our 14 partner food pantry sites and 3 mobile pantries. In addition, we provide no-contact home delivery to those who cannot get to a pantry. Individuals and their families seeking assistance may receive a three-day supply of food once per month from each of our 14 pantries at no cost to them. Outside of the regular monthly three-day supply, we provide many food items that are available any time. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 the DMARC Food Pantry Network individual visits to our food pantries totaled 254,896, with approximately 2,294,000 meals distributed. Unduplicated individuals served totaled 59,844.
The Des Moines Area Religious Council advocates for policies that will reduce food insecurity in the state of Iowa.DMARC is a member of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, a 501(c)4 non-profit organization. The Iowa Hunger Coalition is a group of passionate anti-hunger organizations and individuals who work for effective policies and help educate Iowans on the causes, effects, and solutions of food insecurity and hunger in Iowa.
At its roots, DMARC is a multi-faith collaboration working to meet basic needs in the Des Moines community. We have relationships with members of Baha'ism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism, Unitarian Universalism and Native American religion. As such, we take pride in offering a variety of opportunities for interfaith engagement.We offer an Interfaith Youth Leadership Camp, a weeklong camp where high school seniors and college freshmen explore various world faiths through hands on experiences in their sacred spaces. Camp culminates in each camper producing a digital short video of their own faith journey to this point in their lives.