St. Mary Family Center 1815 Hubbell Avenue, 515.262.7290 Imagine not having food to feed your family or diapers to clothe your baby or even enough money to pay your electric bill. These concerns are real for thousands of families in Des Moines. Fortunately, St. Mary Family Center, located at 1815 Hubbell Avenue, can provide those necessities to families in need. The center opened in 1989, operating three days a week. The number of families seeking services grew far beyond what was possible to do in three days, so the center extended its hours and is now open five days a week. About 1,000 families receive aid each month at St. Mary’s, which serves the largest number of clients of any of the Des Moines Area Religious Council’s (DMARC) Food Pantries. The center provides emergency financial assistance, personal care items, baby items (diapers, formula, etc.), clothing and limited household items. The large number of dedicated volunteers allow the center to serve over 1,000 families each month. Volunteers prepare food boxes, unload trucks, sort and pick up donations, and serve on reception desk. For more information on volunteering or making a donation to St. Mary Family Center please contact Trish Radke at 515-237-5078.

St. Joseph Emergency Family Shelter 1535 11th St, 515.282.1235 St. Joseph Emergency Family Shelter is the only shelter in Polk County where the entire family unit can stay together. Located at 1535 11th Street in Des Moines, St. Joseph’s is large enough to provide safe, clean housing for five homeless families. St. Joseph’s welcomes children and whomever children bring. Our mission is to honor the humanity of each person by acknowledging the emotional and financial crisis involved when a family finds itself without housing or funds. We offer housing for a limited stay, three meals a day, laundry facilities and case management to assist guests in returning to self-sufficiency. Volunteers at St. Joseph assist in many ways, from providing an evening meal, shelter maintenance, collecting donations or assisting in an evening activity. Volunteer opportunities are available for groups and individuals. The shelter is staffed 24-hours a day. For more information on volunteering or making a donation to St. Mary Family Center please contact Trish Radke at 515-237-5078.

Click here for volunteer and donation needs

St. Benedict's Mission, 1224 Martin Luther King Pkwy, 244-2986

St. Benedict's Mission opened in 2001 to assist families in the greater Des Moines area. It's location directly across from General Relief allows for many families in need to be served with the basic necessities of life. Eligible families and individuals can receive food and personal care items once a month. Once a year, eligible families or individuals can obtain financial assistance for rent or utility assistance. As a Food Bank agency, 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of food and personal care items are obtained at a nominal cost for distribution to over 600 people each month.

St. Benedict's Mission has no paid staff members. A dedicated staff of volunteers (many from St. Theresa), operate the Mission. St. John's Basilica provides the house to the Mission rent- free. With no administrative or personnel costs, 100% that is donated goes directly to families in need. St. Benedict's is funded through the generosity of churches and individuals. St. Theresa First Fruits provides monthly financial assistance to St. Benedict’s Mission.

Click here to learn more about St. Benedict's Mission. For more information on volunteering or making a donation to St. Benedict's Mission, please contact call 244-2986.

The Connection Café, 600 6^th Ave, is a free lunch program established by four of the Downtown Des Moines churches (St. Ambrose, St. Paul, St. John, First United Methodist). Along with the aid of other outreach groups, approximately 200 lunches are supplied 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. at the Community Center at 7^th and Grand Avenue. Volunteers are needed to provide ingredients, to help put lunches together and to serve them. In addition, any and all tax-deductible monetary donations are greatly appreciated. Click here to read Connection Cafe newsletter

For more information, call 771-1481 or email at theconnectioncafe@hotmail.com.

Kids Against Hunger™ of Des Moines is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to end that tragedy by packaging and shipping life-saving meals to starving and malnourished children in developing countries and the United States. The meals, formulated by Cargill and General Mills food scientists, provide a rich source of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates and vitamins needed by the bodies and minds of undernourished children.

Since its launch in 1999, Kids Against Hunger has fed more than 30 million meals to children in 39 countries through the efforts of 80,000 volunteers. Kids Against Hunger™ consists of teams of people who volunteer their time, energy and finances to help bag life-saving food. When you volunteer your time or resources, we are able to save money that can then be applied toward the purchase of more ingredients for food. Packaging the food is a wonderful, fulfilling way to make a real difference! You can see the progress with each bag you package and box up. From the very young to senior citizens, any group can be involved in this process.

Packaging events are held every Saturday from 10am to Noon at Holmes Automobile in Urbandale. For more information go to www.kidsagainsthungerdsm.org to learn more about the program and how easy it is to volunteer and make a difference in alleviating world hunger.

Refugee Ministry
St. Ambrose Cathedral is a “Catholic United Nations Parish.” We have a rich diversity of parishioners. Our parish family consists of people from all over the world, including refugees from Southeast Asia and recently those from Africa. We have a full-time pastoral minister who coordinates refugee ministry together with our current refugee leaders in our parish community.
Contact: Sr. Pat Scherer (288-7411 X 204) Refugee Ministry

• Sponsor a Family
• Assist Moving
• Assist Transportation
• Misc. Help
• Monetary Donations

Volunteering with Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity can be much more than hammering nails and hanging drywall. There is a wide variety of volunteer opportunities to fit your schedule and best utilize your talents.

Call 471-8686 or Click here to learn more about Habitat

The Des Moines Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a retail outlet that sells new and used home improvement materials to the public at discounted prices. ALL proceeds from ReStore benefit the mission of Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity.

Materials in the store are donated from the public and private sector, and include such items as cabinets, lighting and plumbing fixtures, doors, lumber, flooring, paint, and windows (and much, much more!). Through the donation process, thousands of tons of materials are diverted from the landfill each year. There are seven ReStores in Iowa and over 500 ReStores in the U.S. and Canada . Donating to the ReStore Requirements: The first requirement is that all products donated to the ReStore must be in good enough condition to sell to the public. Click here to see ReStore donation requirements

The ReStore is almost always in need of volunteers. There is never a shortage of things to do. There is always something fun to do while helping out at the ReStore. Helping customers load items, picking up donations, completing minor repairs, sorting items, repackaging products, and learning about the myriad of things that go into home repair and restoration make for loads of opportunities for volunteers. We prefer people to make a commitment, whether that is on a weekly or monthly basis and for a minimum of four hours at a time. We can take individual volunteers or small groups (less than 10). If you'd like to volunteer, call us at 309-0224 and we can arrange it for you.

Amanda the Panda needs your help to sustain and expand our services. We receive no support from federal, state, or local government and no insurance reimbursement. Amanda the Panda's services are free to all participants. Families may contribute as they are able - no person is turned away. Our program is completely dependent on contributions from businesses, individuals, organizations, foundations, and clubs. Amanda the Panda is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization. All gifts are deeply appreciated.

Click here to see ways to help Amanda the Panda If you are available to volunteer your time, energy and abilities, Amanda would love to have you be part of our "Amanda Family".

Support groups are held fall, winter and spring for bereaved children, teens and adults at Amanda the Panda's offices. Each group meets independently for six weeks for an hour and a half each week. A simple meal is provided at 6:00 PM before the groups begin. All support groups are held at:

1000 73rd St. Suite 12 Des Moines, Iowa 50311

Phone (515) 223-4847 FAX (515) 223-4782
jzpanda@aol.com www.AmandaThePanda.org

Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC)

The DMARC Emergency Food Pantry is a program to help meet the short-term needs of hungry people in the Des Moines area. Its purposes are:

· to help persons to be free from hunger

· to provide help for short-term emergencies only, and

· to provide information and referral to other available agencies.

DMARC’s Emergency Food Pantry distributes food through eight pantry sites. Volunteers are needed to work in the Emergency Food Pantry Distribution Center, especially on the Mondays after Food Pantry Sundays.

Besides the food pantry, DMARC has many community service programs. Click here to see DMARC volunteer opportunities

Please contact 277-6969 to learn more about volunteering through DMARC.

3816 - 36th Street #202
Des Moines, IA 50310
Phone: 515-277-6969

Providing Resources & Relationships Where God's Hope and Healing are Shared

Our mission is to extend God’s love and mercy to Iowa’s high-risk youth by equipping an expanding network of congregations to provide these youth with resources and relationships where God’s hope and healing are shared.

Click here to see SOY service opportunities. Please contact Mary Tomlinson at the below number for more information about volunteering through SOY.

Mary Tomlinson
c/o Polk County Youth Services (PCYS)
1548 Hull Ave
Des Moines, IA 50316

Office: (515) 286-3344 x 6818
Mobile: (515) 321-7557
Email: MaryT@ServeOurYouth.org

Volunteer in this child development program for low income families that serves children birth to 5 years old.  Call 271-1854 for more information or go to www.drakeheadstart.org/involvement/ to view volunteer opportunities.