$600K grant to help River Bend upgrade food warehouse

River Bend Food Bank is moving forward with an upgrade to its west Davenport warehouse thanks, in part, to a new Iowa state grant that will help it tackle food insecurity issues impacting its 23-county service area.  The Quad Cities agency, which serves eastern Iowa and western Illinois, has received a $607,342 grant to reconfigure […]

River Bend Food Bank is moving forward with an upgrade to its west Davenport warehouse thanks, in part, to a new Iowa state grant that will help it tackle food insecurity issues impacting its 23-county service area.  The Quad Cities agency, which serves eastern Iowa and western Illinois, has received a $607,342 grant to reconfigure its warehouse space to improve efficiency and its ability to safely store, manage and distribute more food.

The grant, announced last week by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Economic Development Authority, was among a total of $5 million awarded to four nonprofits statewide through the Iowa Food Insecurity Infrastructure Fund. The awards will assist the nonprofits in investing in infrastructure to increase the availability of food distributed to local food pantries throughout the state.  The state fund was established to help more Iowans in need get access to fresh, nutritious food. The grants were made available through the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act.  Nancy Renkes, River Bend’s president and CEO, said the agency will use the grant to close a funding gap in its ongoing construction at the 4010 Kimmel Drive warehouse and offices. “This grant from the state is such an amazing gift because that’s $600,000 we don’t have to raise for the project — and now we can go out and raise for food,” she told the QCBJ. 

Ms. Renkes said work is underway on a 9,741-square-foot office expansion, and River Bend has shifted directions on a warehouse expansion, originally planned. “Because of COVID-19, and because our world really changed, we downsized the project to $6.5 million (from $9 million),” she said.  “We were going to add on to our warehouse because, at the time, we had given up our space where we had food receiving. But now, because of food donations being down, we have space in our warehouse to create that (without an expansion),” Ms. Renkes added.  Bush Construction and Origin Design, both based in Davenport, are the general contractor and architect on the project. She said the project is expected to be completed in late spring or early summer 2024.  In addition to River Bend’s warehouse upgrade, the Iowa Food Insecurity Infrastructure Fund is granting funds for these projects:  

• Food Bank of Iowa, awarded $560,207, to remodel its Ottumwa warehouse to support ADA accessibility, improving visitation and volunteer capacity, and to improve outreach, allowing for staff flexibility and closer proximity to new and existing partners.  
• Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo was awarded $2 million. The grant will help make distribution and programming updates by adding storage racking, expanding the cooler and freezer section, updating and certifying the repacking area, and revamping the volunteer space.  
• Table to Table, a food distribution network, was awarded $1,832,451 and plans to move its entire basic needs food network operations to a new facility that will be developed at the Iowa City Nonprofit Campus. 

“With this investment, these networks will be able to update and modernize their facilities, provide more access to fresh foods and serve Iowans for many years to come,” the governor said in the release. “Food insecurity doesn’t exist in a vacuum and requires a realistic approach to interrupt the cycle before Iowans become food insecure. “It’s my commitment that Iowa will continue to improve our job training programs, our housing and childcare initiatives, and our mental health system as a comprehensive approach to address this multifaceted challenge,” Ms. Reynolds added.  For more program information, visit iowaeda.com/infrastructure/food-infrastructure.