Fares for Food Day to Benefit Des Moines Area Religious Council

Greater Des Moines residents can help fight hunger in Polk County by riding DART on Fares for Food Day Dec. 10.

All cash fares and donations made into DART Local, Express, Flex and On Call fareboxes will go to the Des Moines Area Regional Religious Council (DMARC) Food Pantry Network, in support of the Hunger Free Polk County initiative. Riders using passes or IDs to ride DART can make a donation into the farebox that day.

All proceeds will benefit the DMARC Food Pantry Network, the largest food pantry network in Iowa with 12 pantries across Ankeny, Des Moines, Johnson, Urbandale and West Des Moines.

According to the Hunger Free Polk County initiative,

• 54,080 individuals in Polk County struggle each day to get enough to eat
• 1 in 5 Polk County children is affected by the hunger crisis

“DART’s Fares for Food Day could not come at a better time for us,” said Rev. Sarai Schnucker Rice, DMARC’s executive director. “Over and over again this year, we have set new record highs in terms of the number of families and individuals we are serving. In November, we served 6,305 families and 16,281 individuals—more than any other month in our nearly 40-year history. We thank DART for their continued effort to ensure that everyone in Polk County has enough to eat.”