LIFT continues to serve families who are food insecure with the help of community generosity


A little extra LIFT ... Monday, May 18, the Iowa National Guard helped distribute additional food from the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in the parking lot near the Lansing Iowa Food Trust (LIFT). This distribution served approximately 175 families and included frozen items, dry food, fresh produce, milk, eggs and bakery items, all in addition to LIFT’s usual weekly food distribution. Submitted photo.

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

Lansing Iowa Food Trust (LIFT), voted the Nicest Place in Iowa in a Reader’s Digest contest last year,  has been actively working to meet the needs of local families during the COVID-19 pandemic. On average each week, approximately 21-23 families had been using LIFT prior to the current pandemic, but during this stressful time the organization has seen an increase in the weekly distributions, serving as many as 35 families per week.

Families may pick up food every other week. LIFT, located at 220 South Third Street in Lansing, is open from 4-6 p.m. each Wednesday for that food distribution. Drop-off points for donated food and supplies are Village Farm & Home Store in Lansing and at the City Clerk’s office in Lansing. Donated items are quarantined for 72 hours to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

During the current pandemic situation that involves social distancing and other mitigation measures, the method of distributing the food has had to be modified. Prior to this, clients came through the store with volunteers and picked out items. To ensure social distancing and limited contact, now prepackaged boxes containing one large box of dry and canned items, one large box of frozen meats and frozen entrees, a bag or box of fresh poultry, milk and dairy, a bag of fresh produce and breads and bakery items are distributed to families as they arrive.  The boxes are placed in the client’s car for them.

People who have never visited the Food Trust before just need to tell the volunteer their names and how many people are in their household. Formal paperwork will be completed after the pandemic limitations are lifted.

Volunteers have come in prior to the open hours in order to prepackage the boxes. During this pandemic, LIFT is limiting the number of volunteers to six at a time so that everyone can practice  social distancing, including the covering of face and hands with masks and gloves.

Karen Galema, President of LIFT, stated, “We have continued to have more volunteers than we can sometimes handle. Our volunteers have continued to amaze us with their willingness to help out. We have had to overcome some issues such as adjusting to new regulations and restrictions, the temporary loss of donated bakery and bread stuffs - we purchased bread in its place, the same with toilet paper - we bought that too; just to name a few. Again, we are at a loss for words when it comes to the monetary donations and the food donations that have come in. We are so grateful to the communities we serve for their endless support.”

Galema continued, “When we had our first meeting as we were forming the food shelf board and policies, I said to my granddaughter, Rhianna Galema, who worked for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank (NEIFB) in Waterloo, it all sounds great but I don’t think we can come up with the money to sustain something like this. And her response was, ‘Grandma, don’t worry about the money - it will be there!’ And, boy, has it!”

“If there is a good side to this pandemic it is that people show how much they care!” Galema shared. “And this is not just a government hand-out program, it is individual local people, individual local groups, grants sponsored by companies that service this area, folks sending us their $1200 stimulus checks, folks paying for meal delivery.

They have all stepped up and have offered their help. It is so wonderful, it leaves us speechless! Thank God for our communities!”

The Northeast Iowa Food Bank of Waterloo arranged for the Northeast Iowa Mobile Food Pantry to provide an extra distribution of food at the Lansing Iowa Food Trust (LIFT) facility Monday, May 18. The mobile pantry handed out additional food items to 175 families, including frozen items, dry food, in addition to fresh produce, milk, eggs and bakery items.

LIFT continues to welcome donations of food, funds and volunteer assistance. Monetary donations may be sent to LIFT, P.O. Box 421, Lansing IA, 52151.