DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) - A Dubuque nonprofit launched an initiative to feed hungry neighbors when the coronavirus pandemic upended the organization’s usual business model, and now it seeks community support to continue and expand the effort in 2021.
Convivium Urban Farmstead, 2811 Jackson St., has provided 1,150 free casseroles to Dubuque residents in need during the past 12 weeks.
“This became a way we solved a problem for ourselves and for the community,” Leslie Shalabi, Convivium’s co-founder, told the Telegraph Herald of Dubuque.
Convivium grows its own produce for use in an on-site restaurant and during hands-on classes devoted to nutritious eating.
“COVID hit, and it changed things quite a bit,” Shalabi said.
The restaurant’s menu changed, and Convivium backed away from hands-on instruction to minimize health risks. However, the organization’s produce kept growing.
“We had 3,000 pounds of produce,” Shalabi said. “Our challenge was how to use it up while maintaining our mission.”
Convivium officials decided to launch Community Casseroles, an initiative to produce and distribute free, healthy vegetable, grain and protein-based casseroles to local residents in need. Each casserole feeds six people.
A disruption in food intake or eating patterns due to lack of money or other resources is known as “food insecurity.”
Information for the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque’s third annual Data Walk event found that the number of “food insecure” people in Dubuque County rose from 8,500 people before the coronavirus pandemic struck to 13,455 as of October, an increase from 8.8% of the county’s population to 13.9%.
The Data Walk research also indicated a lack of food resources in Convivium’s general neighborhood.
“We did also map out where food distribution sites are located, and the North End around Convivium has fewer food distribution sites than other parts of the city,” said Jason Neises, the community foundation’s community development coordinator.
Community Casseroles program coordinator Natalie Roling said a social media post announcing the start of the initiative “went viral.”
“It got about 50,000 views and was shared nearly 300 times,” Roling said.
Social media and word of mouth alerted local residents to the program, and Community Casseroles has provided meals to 323 different households through last week. More than 100 of the households have children, and a survey by Convivium indicated that 48% of the recipient households had total incomes of less than $25,000.
Volunteers assemble and distribute the casseroles weekly at Convivium.
Leanne Golinvaux and Lisa Landgraf have volunteered each week in the effort.
“I thought it was a worthwhile program,” Golinvaux said. “The food is nutritious and free.”
Landgraf said the casseroles are already baked.
“So when we hand out the casseroles, we also hand out a sheet on reheating instructions and the actual recipes, in case people want to make it themselves,” Landgraf said.
The casseroles cost about $25 each to produce - a figure that includes Convivium’s overhead, purchased ingredients and containers for the meals, according to Shalabi.
A City of Dubuque grant funded the initial, 12-week pilot program, which ends this week.
Shalabi said Convivium intends to continue the program in 2021, providing meals for the first six months of the year and increasing the number of meals distributed weekly from 100 to 150. Plans also call for two more distribution locations in different parts of the city and delivering meals to those who can’t leave their homes, in partnership with DuRide.
“We will need more funding,” she said.
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