‘The need continues’ — Emergency Food Box celebrates 40 years with event at Veterans Memorial Coliseum Sunday | News, Sports, Jobs

TR PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Current and past volunteers and board members of the Emergency Food Box who were in attendance pose for a photo during a 40th anniversary event at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.

A group of area residents — many of whom have, both previously and currently, donated their time as either board members or volunteers — came out to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Sunday afternoon to mark the 40-year anniversary of the Emergency Food Box, which was hatched in 1983 but didn’t have its first full year of operations until 1984.

The founding of the organization was the result of a collaboration between several local congregations known as Churches United in Compassion and Concern, and the goal was simple — provide food to those who need it most. Cindy Staron serves as a current EFB board member, volunteer and the operations co-chair, and she’s proud to help carry that torch four decades later.

“It’s just amazing to see what people started 40 years ago, not even sure if we needed it in town, but we were pretty sure we needed something. And now we’re still going, and we still are serving the same mission: helping to serve hungry families,” Staron said. “And the support of our community is overwhelming in financial contributions and support with food drives and wanting to volunteer.”

The EFB has evolved with the times, Staron added. Leadership has worked with the owners of local restaurants and gas stations to perform “food rescue” missions on items that are about to be discarded — say, from the Pizza Ranch buffet or the heat lamp at Casey’s or Kwik Star — and provide them to hungry families. The organization, which was long housed out of a small home on South 3rd Street, also moved into a much larger headquarters at the former home of Iowa River Brewing Company on North 1st Street about two years ago and approximately quadrupled the square footage to store food .

The demand hasn’t wane at all. In the year 2000, the EFB served 8,301 people from 2,631 families, and by 2023, that number had nearly doubled to 15,701 people for 4,612 families.

“The need continues in terms of putting food on our shelves to give to others,” Staron said. “We were so blessed in the new building to be able to add a lot of refrigeration space and freezers so we can keep things on hand better as well.”

With no paid staff, there are between 80 and 90 EFB volunteers and an active board, but the group is aging and Staron would love to see the younger generation get involved in carrying the organization forward. The volunteers are also happy to help people understand the qualification process for food assistance.

“You can just come to the Emergency Food Box if you’re needing food, and we’re going to help you. And we’ll let you know where you fall in those qualification lines, and if you’ve had a crisis in your home — you’ve had a fire, you’ve had a huge car (accident) — then let us know that . Bring a note from a pastor or an agency or your bill or something,” she said.

Bob and Dianne Maile, who were in attendance Sunday, are two of those longtime volunteers, and Bob has served on the board for over 20 years. He recalled his childhood in northern Minnesota and seeing firsthand the detrimental effects of food insecurity, which stuck with him after he moved to Marshalltown and started working at Fisher Controls in 1977.

“Sometimes people are asking me why we bother to do this (because they believe) people should get out and do things for themselves. They’re not all able to do things for themselves, for one, and number two, anybody that can help themselves has probably tried to do that or maybe they got in some situation in their life with drugs or something like that, and they can ‘t get a job,” he said. “I don’t judge any of that stuff. I just say ‘Hey, they need food. They’re food insecure. We need to feed them.’”

Donations are always accepted, even if it’s as small as dropping off two boxes of cereal. After all, that’s two more than they had before. Financial contributions can be sent to PO Box 391 in Marshalltown.

“We just appreciate all that Marshalltown and Marshall County people have done over the years whether you’ve given a little or given a lot or started a trust for the Food Box,” Staron said.

The Emergency Food Box is open Monday through Thursday from 1:30 to 4:30 pm and on Friday from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm