Latest news with #PattySneddon-Kisting
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Urbandale Food Pantry facility sees busy first month
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Urbandale Food Pantry is already making an impact in its community after the April opening of a new facility. Officials say the new location at 7901 Douglas Avenue has served more than 2,000 families in just its first month of operation. The Anytime Room, a space dedicated to redistributing rescued food nearing its expiration date, has also seen over 5,000 visits. Experience the 'dark side of the bloom' when corpse flower named Stink Floyd blooms at Reiman Gardens Patty Sneddon-Kisting, Chief Executive Officer of the Urbandale Food Pantry, said they designed the new facility as more than just a pantry. Through a partnership with Project Iowa, career support and workforce development opportunities are being brought into the pantry starting this month. On-site health and nutrition services will also be provided through Broadlawns WIC (Women, Infants, & Children) 'It's about reimagining food support and creating a space where people feel valued and empowered—not just served,' said Sneddon-Kisting. You can learn more about the Urbandale Food Pantry and its programs here. Metro news Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Urbandale Food Pantry reopens in new facility
DES MOINES, Iowa — A new facility to help fight hunger has officially re-opened in Urbandale. The Urbandale Food Pantry opened its doors Tuesday, just down the street from the old one along Douglas Avenue. The space is more than double the size of the old facility and enhances its accessibility, with larger shopping areas, a waiting room, and a dedicated food recovery space that provides food close to its expiration date to help minimize food waste. Whirlpool to lay off hundreds at Amana facility 'In 2024 the Urbandale Food Pantry rescued over 670,000 pounds of food that would have gone in the trash. So, this food is in conjunction with partners throughout the community so our volunteers go and pick up food and bring it back here and we process it. So, it's food that would have gone in the trash but maybe has a today shelf-life on it, and so we make that available to individuals on a daily basis. So, as the need for access to food continues to rise the anytime room has kind of taken on a mind of its own and we're starting to see a lot of individuals utilize that space,' said Patty Sneddon-Kisting, Executive Director of the Urbandale Food Pantry. Leaders with the pantry say the new space is needed as the pantry continues to break records of people needing food assistance. 'In February of 2022, we served 847 families. In February of 2024, we served more than 1,900 families. Now, we are actively serving more than 2,200 families right now and we were breaking records of families utilizing the service for the first time ever. So,160 to 200 families every single month, who have never received a service before, we're welcoming them into the pantry,' said Sneddon-Kisting. Sneddon-Kisting said within the first four hours of the pantry being open Tuesday they served more than 130 families. Metro News: UPDATE: Missing Des Moines teen found safe Urbandale Food Pantry reopens in new facility Car shoppers get ahead of auto tariffs Victim in fatal Des Moines hit-and-run identified Iowa Wild, ALS Association partner for fundraiser on Star Wars Day Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
How an Iowa woman is spreading awareness about Down syndrome, inclusivity in daughter's classroom
GRIMES, Iowa — Patty Sneddon-Kisting wears a lot of hats. She's the executive director of a nonprofit, a mom, a wife, and a Down syndrome advocate. This is the third year she's visited her daughter Addi's school to teach kids more about it. 'We try to find ways to celebrate Down syndrome and individuals just being their unique, authentic selves with their, whether it's a disability or just something that makes them unique.' She has the kids play games to help them understand what it's like, whether it's trying to make sense of a jumbled up sentence or writing their name with their non-dominant hand. 'Sometimes it may be a little hard to understand what she's saying or sometimes it may take a lot of extra work for her to do some things that come natural to other kiddos.' Julie Parnu is the Special Education teacher at Addi's school and says Addi brings joy to everyone she meets. Perry Principal Dan Marburger to receive posthumous award from Medal of Honor Recipients 'I think the biggest part of it with Addi is that she is in the classroom. She learns so much being in there with her friends and on the other side of it, they also learn from her.' The kids are learning about kindness, empathy and accepting differences. 'Inclusion 100%! The students grow together and they all learn about one another no matter what.' And that's everything from social interaction to science. 'This year they're asking bigger questions, like, okay, these are our chromosomes. How did they get there? Can they change? Do we all have these? And it's almost like, oh, we're going to get a medical book for these kids and explain so much more and I'm watching as their brains are growing and developing!' A few hours every year, making a big impact. 'I mean, all parents want the best for their kids,' Patty says, 'they want their kids to have a sense of belonging and to have meaningful friendships and to be supported, you know, just as who they are and where they are.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
