Donate to Embrace Iowa to help neighbors in need this holiday season and throughout the year

Cady Walsh, who lives near Tripoli, was cooking her 2-year-old son’s meals on a hot plate last year after a sewer backup destroyed their apartment’s appliances.

But the family got a new range — an ADA-compliant one to accommodate Walsh’s limited mobility — thanks to the Des Moines Register’s annual Embrace Iowa campaign.

You can read more about Walsh on Page 1D today in Iowa Life. Each Sunday in December, you’ll see more stories about the families that Embrace Iowa has helped.

Next week, you’ll read about Barry Refleng, a cancer survivor from Farragut whose 25-year-old refrigerator quit working, and he couldn’t afford a replacement. Embrace Iowa helped him, too.

Each year at this time, I ask readers to support their neighbors in need by donating to Embrace Iowa, the Des Moines Register’s annual holiday giving campaign. The program, launched in 1984, provides much-needed grants of up to $750 to help families who face unexpected expenses, such as a car repair, or are digging out from past-due rent or utility bills.

Administered each year by the Iowa Community Action Association, Embrace Iowa steps in to fill gaps when families’ needs fall outside of the strict income limits or eligibility requirements of standard assistance programs. It accepts funds year-round, but the official fundraising campaign runs from Thanksgiving through Feb. 1, 2023. In last year’s campaign, nearly 1,300 generous Iowans raised a record $411,000.

If you’re reaching the end of the year with your bills paid and some money to spare, please consider helping Iowans who aren’t as fortunate.

In a year that has seen inflation climb to its highest rate in 40 years, signs point to more Iowans in need than ever. As the Register reported earlier this month, the Des Moines Area Religious Council’s network of 15 food pantries assisted 1,530 individuals across Polk County on Nov. 1, a record high in the organization’s 46-year history. CEO Matt Unger said he expected November to be the busiest month in the network’s history.

DMARC attributes the increase to families' higher costs for essential goods such as food and gasoline, coupled with April’s end to more generous pandemic-related benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The Register also has reported on an increase in homeless people in Polk County, rising to 628 in a July count, up 23% from a year earlier. Of that total, 184 people were unsheltered; the rest were in an emergency shelter, a safe haven or transitional housing. The Gazette of Cedar Rapids reported last week that Linn County is seeing big increases, too. Its July count of unsheltered people was 107, topping 100 for the first time in recent memory. And in the past four months, advocates believe the number has risen another 50 percent.

Tens of thousands of families across Iowa are struggling to pay rent, which averaged $1,045 for an apartment in the Des Moines metro as of the second quarter, according to CBRE│Hubbell Commercial.

Many of the families who apply to Embrace Iowa have never asked for assistance before, according to Katherine Harrington, executive director of the Iowa Community Action Association, But they've hit a financial rough patch, whether needing prescription eyeglasses for a child or one-time help paying rent after a layoff.

The association’s staff, which serve residents in all 99 of Iowa’s counties, select the recipients from those who apply. With the association's help, not a dime goes to administration; 100% of donations goes directly to Iowans.

Whether you’ve given each of the past 38 years (Thank you!) or are reading about Embrace Iowa for the first time, I ask you to consider a donation to help fellow Iowans in need.

Carol Hunter is the Register’s executive editor. She wants to hear your questions, story ideas or concerns at 515-284-8545, chunter@registermedia.com, or on Twitter: @carolhunter.

How you can help

You can donate to Embrace Iowa online at iowacommunityaction.org/about/donate. Or checks can be mailed to Embrace Iowa, P.O. Box 10611, Cedar Rapids, IA 52410-0611. Following your donation, a letter will be mailed for tax purposes.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Donate to Des Moines Register's Embrace Iowa to help neighbors in need