MCO Update July 30, 2026

All Saints - Immaculate Conception - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton - St. John XXIII - St. Joseph - St. Jude - St. Ludmila

St. Matthew - St. Patrick - St. Pius X - St. Wenceslaus

Just This Week

July 27th - July 30th

166 Families Served

705 People Served

193 Homeless Bags

2025-26 Fiscal Year Ends

As our fiscal year ended in June, we have some amazing totals to share from 7/1/25 through 6/30/26:

5,035 individual households picked up food boxes -- 18,186 individuals. (About 20% of households pick up more than once a month)

10,277 boxes of groceries were distributed, each individually packed by our faithful volunteers

1,255 school bags with weekend provisions went home to 602 households in the Catholic schools system

10,095 bags of food and supplies were distributed to folks living outside

Of 418,934 pounds of food distributed, 66,881 pounds was food donated from parishioners and walk-in donors. The remaining 352,073 pounds was purchased or donated from retailers or wholesalers.

$80,740.50 was paid to landlords or utility companies, helping 137 families stay in their homes.

Thanks to ALL our donors of food and cash to feed and help all these local folks in need of our assistance. Our clients are always so grateful when they pick up food or we pay a bill that keeps their water or power on!

MCO Office

Volunteers Needed

JOIN THE FUN!

When you volunteer at our front desk, you will be answering phones, scheduling clients for food boxes, assembling and distributing homeless bags, organizing incoming donations, and greeting clients coming into our office.

Pictured is Jim, who has volunteered at our front desk for about eight months. Jim has been a great sub, and often hops onto shifts that need a fill-in.

The shifts are a fast and quick three hours, morning or afternoon. You can volunteer once or twice a month, once a week, or sub when needed, as Jim does. We can use any skill level, and we guarantee no two days are ever the same!

We NEED YOU

Drop Off Your Garden Extras on Mondays

Our Monday afternoons have seen a tremendous response from local gardeners!

Every Monday from 1:00pm - 2:00pm, we have volunteers waiting at our dock to receive any of your garden bounty you would like to bring us. Getting it all fresh on Mondays allows us to sort and package your nutritious home-grown fare for distribution to our neighbors in need on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

No need to call first if you are coming, just show up between 1:00 and 2:00.

Thanks for keeping our volunteers busy on

Monday afternoons!

CURRENT URGENT NEEDS

~ OUR SUPPLIES ARE VERY LOW ~

PANTRY NEEDS

Peanut Butter

Canned Green Beans or Corn

Bottled Water

Hamburger/Tuna Helper Meals

Individual Fruit Cups

PERSONAL CARE

Shampoo, Toothpaste

Cleaning Supplies

Soap, Body Wash

Laundry Pods

(We Are NOT Taking Clothing or Blankets)

CLICK HERE FOR OUR AMAZON WISH LIST

Green Prairie Garden

at Prairiewoods

Christine Kirpes, Garden Coordinator

New for our garden this year is regular student service from Xavier and Linn-Mar during our two morning crew shifts. A SignUp Genius link sent to both schools last spring offers two spots each shift.

Our Prairiewoods summer help (Green Iowa Americorps) has been regularly assisting during our morning shifts. Aaron, the Land Care Coordinator, usually helps out also.

Woodchuck alert! This year, for the second time, a woodchuck has breached our fence. We've been finding gnawed summer squash, missing sweet potato leaves, & a few other items of chewed produce. Aaron has now trapped two chucks in the past few weeks & taken them far, far away to save our veggies. Hopefully, there were only two. The plot gardens next to our garden were also seeing depredation of their produce. Gardening in a prairie is usually great, but there are more critters than there might be in the middle of town.

If you or your group would like to be part of this garden ministry, contact Christine:

cmckirpes@gmail.com

Aaron is framed under the bean trellis after dumping wood chips onto path

A family that sorts produce together stays together. Bucky with GIA assists

Duane shores up the fence after the woodchuck invaded

Tristan discovers a cicada case

Aaron weeds the raspberry patch

Tani cleans dill seed off branches

__________________________________________

Honorary Donations

Every month we receive donations "In Memory Of" or "In Honor Of" someone. This is a great gift to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or wedding, OR as a memorial for someone who has passed away.

Going forward into our new fiscal year, we will include these in our newsletters.

DONOR

Dick and Pat Semelroth

Audrey Tuttle

Dann Hingten

Joy Wilging

IN HONOR OF

Fran Hatfield's Birthday

Dorothy Hintgen Memorial

ALL contributions are needed and appreciated!

Call our office or ring our bell when you arrive and we'll help you bring in your donations.

Donations accepted during office hours OR drop off at any of our area Catholic churches.

~ Please CALL AHEAD with large donations ~

319-739-5490

THANK YOU TO

ALL OUR FAITHFUL DONORS

AND VOLUNTEERS!

YOU MAKE METRO CATHOLIC OUTREACH

A SUCCESS!!

Are YOU interested in helping?

We need volunteers to help put food on the tables of local folks in need. Greet clients in our office, sort food in our pantry, load groceries at distribution, distribute homeless bags.

Call or email us -- our contact details are below

“Sometimes it's easy to walk by because we know we can't change someone's whole life in a single afternoon. But what we fail to realize it that simple kindness can go a long way toward encouraging someone who is stuck in a desolate place.”

― Mike Yankoski