Berleen Wobeter.

It’s summer and school-aged children are home for break. More meals eaten at home means food purchasing budgets are stretched. For eligible families, Healthy Kids Iowa (HKI), a summer feeding program, is Iowa’s answer to meeting those needs.

The South Tama County food pantry located on Main Street Tama is the distribution site for this much-touted program. A program designed by state leadership and praised for its anticipated benefits for Iowa’s kids. HKI is Iowa’s original answer to feeding children and replaces a federal program serving many other states called SUN Bucks. SUN Bucks gives eligible children an EBT card to be used for $40 worth of groceries at participating grocers once per each of the three summer months.

Under the direction of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa opted out of the SUN Bucks program and received a USDA waiver to proceed with our own planned program. It received praise from state and federal officials for its innovation.

The following is a review of HKI from its original promise to the local implementation in Tama county. HKI has the potential to make a significant impact in our local community and should be given thoughtful review for future input and program improvement.

On May 7, Gov. Reynolds received a waiver from U.S. Sec. of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to proceed with HKI. The Governor’s stated goal was to ensure all eligible Iowa children have access to nutritious balanced and wholesome food. In a county of 720 square miles encompassing all or parts of five school districts, the STC Food Pantry is the only HKI distribution site. It has limited operating hours of four hours a day, three days a week.

Gov. Reynolds’ official State of Iowa website states, “Sites for distribution will be selected in partnership with the Feeding America Food Banks.” This plan was made in advance of actual communication and agreements with those food banks and distribution sites. The May 7 announcement giving permission to proceed meant a scramble to implement plans. Our region’s food bank, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, needed to source food and reach out to local sites asking for their agreement to become distribution sites. What sounded like an agreed-upon plan in the Governor’s statement, became a sudden and heavy lift for our pantry. However, with a long history of dedicated service to the community meeting emergency food needs, the current all-volunteer board of directors took on the task. Out of concern and not wanting to add extra work for the dedicated volunteers who serve our clients on a regular basis, the board took on an outsized role. They learned how the new program was to be implemented, adjusted computer statistical input, stocked and bagged hundreds of pounds of extra food all within the limited space of the pantry. Further, they trained regular volunteers on the new protocol. Considerable extra hours were volunteered to accomplish this work. Finally, in the last week of June the first bags of food were distributed. Families with children who visited the pantry earlier in the month were not able to retroactively participate and missed the June distribution of food.

With a short lead time of six weeks the NE Iowa Food Bank turned to an established relationship with Hy-Vee knowing they could source this sudden increased need for food and deliver it to distribution sites. A primary goal of HKI has been to promote healthier eating habits by giving children access to nutritious wholesome food. The $40 worth of food would be a promised selection of fresh foods, reflecting food preferences and cultural and dietary needs. However, unlike the selection of food available on grocery store shelves, selection actually means deciding between a menu A or B bag of pre-selected food items. The menus reflect no cultural or dietary preferences. Generally the choice is between a variation of pasta, pre-made pasta meals, pasta sauces or maybe canned peaches or pears, as an example. Fresh foods have been limited to a bag of apples or pears from Washington State or eggs. “Dairy products” means processed cheese and no milk. A variation of cereals are offered and granola bars along with peanut butter and jelly but no bread. Offering even this limited idea of selection to some of our clients is a challenge. Language barriers hamper meaningful conversation and in some cases this results in choices being made for the recipient.

The promise of nutritious, fresh, wholesome food delivered in the form of boxes and cans of ultra-processed foods is a stretch. Further, the notion children will learn healthier eating habits when there is no real opportunity for choice or an educational component seems unlikely.

HKI was promoted as a cost-saving strategy for the state. Food would be purchased in bulk and at lower prices. Hy-Vee was the winner. Iowa feeds the world yet this program failed to source food from local producers. Local foods may come with a higher price tag but the money spent goes directly back into local economies, supporting our rural communities and the growers who strive to produce fresh wholesome foods. Iowa is working to rebuild its food infrastructure and it is invaluable to support farmers wanting to enter food production. This was a missed opportunity to support local farmers.

HKI does succeed in delivering more calories to children who find a way to access the program. Families unfamiliar with the program’s existence and goals are happy to receive the food provided. The STC Food Pantry has so far succeeded in the heavy lift to implement the program as presented to them, however, HKI falls short of its worthy promises and deserves an in-depth review from state leaders.

Berleen Wobeter of Toledo is a graduate of Dysart-Geneseo High School and Iowa State University. She has worked in area schools including STC, Meskwaki Settlement, North Tama, and GMG as a part-time teacher, long and short term substitute teacher, and classroom associate. Wobeter has also been a Christian education director and youth group leader for UMC-Toledo. She unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Tama County Board of Supervisors in 2024 and previously served on the Tama County Board of Adjustment.