dsmWealth: April 17, 2025

Urbandale Food Pantry expands to serve more people
BY STEVE DINNEN

The U.S. Department of Agriculture believes a family of four can feed themselves for a month for as little as $567. Multiply that by 2,000 — the number of families that the Urbandale Food Pantry serves every month — and you can see why the nonprofit has launched a campaign to raise $3.5 million.

This money isn’t for food. It’s for the new headquarters on Douglas Avenue, which is twice as big as the old place and includes dedicated areas for receiving and warehousing food. No longer will clients have to wait on the sidewalk to get into the former headquarters, which is just two blocks away.

The Urbandale Food Pantry first opened its doors in 2008, when it served only Urbandale and Windsor Heights. Business took off when it went “border free” in 2016 and started serving people no matter where they lived. Patty Sneddon-Kisting, the executive director, said they now serve clients from 76 ZIP codes.

“Food insecurity is in every community,” she said.

The pandemic and resulting disruptions of the economy and society prompted a surge in use. Despite the economy’s recovery, the demand for donated food remains as strong as ever. The pantry’s old facility just “wasn’t sustainable,” Sneddon-Kisting said.

So her team found a new building, bought it, reconfigured it to fit their needs and recently opened its doors for a bigger future. The capital campaign has earmarked $470,000 for the building’s purchase, $2.6 million for construction, and $500,000 to support increased operational expenses that have come with the expansion.

Fundraising is about two-thirds complete. Companies, including many with ties to the food industry, have kicked in some money, and personal donations have covered the rest. One of the largest contributions came from an anonymous donor who volunteers on-site.

In all, more than 200 volunteers handle most of the day-to-day work. They stock shelves, unload delivery trucks and drive around town to round up food donated by grocery stores, restaurants and convenience stores. Most of this is “rescue food,” which has been prepared but not sold by the business. Iowa’s Good Samaritan law for perishable foodstuffs shields donors from any liability. By paying close attention and acting quickly, pantry volunteers gather 670,000 pounds of rescue food every year.

Clients can visit either of the pantry’s two sides. The daily side offers rescue food, which varies on what the volunteers round up. The monthly side has milk, eggs and meat, along with diapers, formula and personal care items.

All told, the pantry distributes 1.8 million pounds of food a year. That’s a lot of meals. And that’s why it takes $3.5 million to put that meat on the table.

Food Bank of Iowa scrambles to replace USDA cuts
BY STEVE DINNEN

Under the current presidential administration, the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corp. recently reshuffled its priorities and decided to cancel a shipment of food to Des Moines.

That means about 16 truckloads of pork chops and turkey, along with cheese, eggs and other high-protein foods, never pulled up to the loading dock at the Food Bank of Iowa. Its team was counting on those 400,000 pounds of food.

The Food Bank of Iowa still intends to feed people, but it now has to go the market to buy replacement products, according to its vice president, Annette Hacker. That will cost them more than $1 million, so they’re asking the public to chip in.

Food Bank of Iowa is part of Feeding America, a network of more than 200 food banks that feed an estimated 46 million people through soup kitchens and food pantries. The Food Bank of Iowa is the largest of six food banks across the state, and it distributes food to more than 700 pantries in 55 counties (including the one in Urbandale, noted above).

Hacker said the Food Bank of Iowa buys about one-third of its food. Another third is donated, and the final third has come from the USDA, until now. Rising food costs over the past few years have challenged the organization, so the unexplained and unexpected loss of the protein-rich USDA shipments is especially painful since those foods are more expensive than other staples.

Your car insurance is likely to go up. Again.
BY ANN CARRNS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Add this to worries about the likely impact of tariffs: costlier car insurance.

The new tariffs on imported cars, metals and parts announced by the Trump administration are expected to raise vehicle prices by thousands of dollars if they remain in place. And because parts used in auto repairs will also become more expensive, the average cost of automobile insurance is expected to increase.

The average annual premium for a full-coverage auto policy was just over $2,300 at the end of last year, according to an analysis by Insurify, an insurance comparison shopping website. The site initially estimated that premiums would increase just 5 percent this year, based on factors like inflation and insurer losses.

How much of an impact could tariffs have on car insurance costs? When will the increases affect driver policies? What can you do?

Read more for practical tips.

Why your top tax rate isn't what you actually pay
BY ASHLEA EBELING FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Where federal tax brackets and rates will land next year depends whether Congress extends the 2017 tax cuts for individuals that expire at year-end. That law kept the former seven brackets, but lowered five of the seven rates. It also widened the brackets, meaning taxpayers could earn more before moving into a higher bracket with a higher rate. Brackets are also subject to annual inflation adjustments.

Your top bracket isn’t always as important, though, as many taxpayers assume. That is because the U.S. has a progressive tax system. The result is an effective tax rate that is typically lower than many people realize.

It also means taxpayers shell out less in payments to the government than they would if all their income was taxed at their marginal rate.

The tax code has seven income-tax brackets for individuals with accompanying tax rates that range from 10% to 37%. The 10% rate takes effect at the first dollar of taxable income, after benefits such as the standard deduction are applied. As your taxable income moves up the ladder of brackets, each layer gets taxed at progressively higher rates.

Read more (and check out the handy charts) to determine the difference between your tax bracket and how much you might actually pay.