CEDAR RAPIDS – A food distribution center in Cedar Rapids is asking for donations this week to avoid permanent closure.

Together We Achieve began in 2020 as a Facebook group – called the Derecho Storm Resource Page – with the goal of connecting people with resources after the 2020 derecho. It eventually evolved into a food distribution site in southwest Cedar Rapids.

On Wednesday, Together We Achieve launched a fundraising appeal and said in a press release that without additional funds, the pantry would have to close by the end of this week.

The goal of the emergency fundraiser is to raise $50,000 by August 31, enough money to tide the nonprofit over until the end of the year.

“We had written some grant proposals that we were hoping for. We felt like we had done what we needed to do and told the story we needed to tell, but it didn’t work out the way we had hoped,” said Raymond Siddell, executive director of Together We Achieve.

“I was hoping that we wouldn’t get into this situation and that something would come of it with the grant applications we had submitted and the requests for corporate sponsorship we had submitted,” he said.

Siddell said several of the companies and agencies whose donations the pantry previously relied on have been overwhelmed in recent years by increasing requests from food banks and other food organizations. In response, many groups have changed their funding priorities and are now focusing on organizations working on long-term solutions to food insecurity.

The pantry has written $127,000 in grant applications over the past six months, but has not received the response it hoped for, according to Siddell.

According to its 2022 tax form 990, the nonprofit has struggled with declining revenue in recent years. This year, Together We Achieve reported $102,982 in donations and grants, up from $149,103 the previous year. And despite cutting expenses between 2021 and 2022, the nonprofit posted losses in both years — $25,763 in 2021 and $55,067 in 2022.

Together We Achieve has received federal American Rescue Plan Act funding from Cedar Rapids and Linn County. In 2022, the program received $23,980 from Linn County and $19,742 from Cedar Rapids to support holiday food box distribution. Also in 2022, Linn County provided $3,650 in ARPA funds to Together We Achieve’s Hot Meals for All program.

“As the need increases and we serve more households, we continue to try to help every single day. The systematic part of it, or the advocacy, gets a little more difficult as the need continues to increase but resources become more scarce,” Siddell said.

“I agree that something needs to change systemically and that we need to look for alternatives, but we can’t just close the food banks when the need is so great.”

Siddell said he realizes that even if the pantry can reach its $50,000 goal, it will only be a short-term solution, but he hopes the money will give the nonprofit enough time to partner with other organizations in the city and begin creating a better system that places less of a burden on individual organizations.

“If we could centralize ideas, systems and efficiencies, we would be more effective. We would have a bigger impact, a broader impact, and I think we would have the impact we need to reduce some of these numbers, the number of individuals or households going to the food pantries,” Siddell said.

Another food distribution point in the region will be closed this week

If Together We Achieve cannot raise funds, it will be one of two major food distribution sites closing at the end of August. Olivet Neighborhood Mission announced in July that it would close its doors after August 31.

The Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) has purchased the Olivet Mission property and plans to transform it into a neighborhood center that will include a food distribution site, according to a HACAP news release. Further details on when the distribution site will open have not been announced.

Siddell said Together We Achieve has already seen an increase in clients as people switch pantries in anticipation of Olivet’s closure, and he is concerned about what will happen to those families if another pantry closes.

“We have a fragmented system. We have a lot of pantries that are open one day a month or one day a week or two hours a day or just have different schedules that work for their building, their volunteers and their staff. But there’s no centralized or streamlined process to ensure that all hours are covered or that all parts of the city are covered at different times,” Siddell said.

Anonymous donors double gifts

Siddell hopes the community will help keep the pantry open. An anonymous donor has already pledged to match every dollar raised through Together We Achieve’s emergency fundraiser, up to $25,000.

If the $50,000 fundraising goal isn’t fully met, Siddell said the amount raised will still help keep the pantry open a little longer, whether for a few weeks or for the rest of the year.

“Our goal is to stay open and continue to serve the community. If that means we can stay open a little longer to communicate to them what that means and give them a little more time to prepare, we will certainly focus on that first,” he said.

In 2023, Together We Achieve served 7,370 people from 1,995 different households. In 2022, it served 6,192 people from 1,684 different households. Siddell said the increase in people turning to food pantries has remained consistent over the past few years due to inflation and other societal stressors, and he believes that increase will only continue to grow.

“There needs to be change, but we cannot close food distribution centers during this process,” Siddell said.

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