Crisis Center Gearing Up for Holiday Season

The Crisis Center of Johnson County is keeping pace with the rising demand for food and emergency services due to the generosity of the community at large – and food drives like the one this Saturday at Walmart from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This September, 3,355 people visited the Crisis Center’s food bank, up about 800 from September, 2010, according to Crisis Center Communications and Development Director Beth Ritter Ruback.

“Every month since May we’ve seen 100 more visits, so we’re taking in about 100 more families per month,” she said.

Last Monday, people filled the waiting room patiently waiting for their turn to have a sack of groceries prepared for them, or to choose items from the pantry. It was also the day for a voucher for a clothing voucher, for those who qualified, good towards Crowded Closet or Goodwill Stores.

Ruback said the Crisis Center is able to keep up with demand thanks to a variety of sources, including area organizations that deliver donated food to them, such as Table to Table, who donated about 40 percent of their food in 2010, or 469,000 pounds for the food bank.  

Local churches who participate in the Consultation of Religious Communities, an interfaith council composed of more than 30 religious communities in Johnson County, also play a big role in donating both food and money, along with University of Iowa student groups and concerned citizens.

“The Iowa City Masonic organization provides a fund to help people get steel-toed work boots, so us being able to get them a pair of boots means they can show up to work on Monday,” Ruback said.

As a United Way partner agency, about 38 percent of the Crisis Center’s budget comes from United Way, the cities of Iowa City and Coralville, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors and the University of Iowa. The rest, or 62 percent, is pure donation.

Food drives, such as a food booth that will be available at Walmart this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., help increase donations to the center, Ruback said.

“We had amazing response in June and July communitywide – over 50,000 pounds of food,” she said, adding three local pantries participated in the food drive, called Thanksgiving in July. “We’re so fortunate. People walk in every day with food donations.”

BGAPS, the Society of Black Graduates & Professional Groups, is sponsoring the food booth at Walmart Saturday, with members handing out the Crisis Center’s top 10 list of most-needed items, also listed on the center’s website, jccrisiscenter.org.

Sarah Benson Witry, the food bank director at the Crisis Center of Johnson County for three years, said unemployment, fixed incomes and rising food prices play a big role in the increase in demand for food.

“When you look at unemployment locally and nationwide, those numbers don’t take into account the people who have been looking for so long that they’ve sort of given up – they weren’t able to find something that met their needs or worked for them,” she said. “It also doesn’t measure people who are underemployed, who may be working a part-time job or a job that doesn’t pay enough money to meet their family’s needs.”

Registration is going on now for the center’s Project Holiday, an annual distribution of holiday meals and food items. Ruback said they will be giving out whole turkeys, whole chickens, turkey roasts and vegetarian options Nov. 20, 21, and 22.

Besides the food pantry, emergency assistance is available. September set a record for the number of people applying for the center’s one-time emergency financial assistance program, which helps clients pay past-due bills, up to $100.

The crisis line now includes the Center’s latest service, a chat line added the end of May, 2010. In “crisis chat,” people log on and chat in a support session with a volunteer.

 “Call volume on our 24-hour crisis line is up,” Ruback said. “People are needing more emotional support right now. The center conducted 730 calls and 546 chats in September, up from 307 chats in August. “Clearly there was an unmet need there and the crisis chat has filled that need. It’s exploded and  quickly reached the number of phone calls.”

Any Johnson County resident is welcome to visit the Crisis Center, located at 1121 Gilbert Court, to find out what programs are available for them, and no paperwork is required to sign up, Ruback said, adding serve a fair amount of people who are homeless.

“We give all kinds of referrals and find out what programs you might qualify for,” she said. “That’s why our tagline is, ‘It’s your first call in Johnson County.’”

For more information on how to donate or receive, call (319) 351-0128.