By Steve Van Kooten
Have you ever wondered what your community is doing to combat hunger? How about mental health problems or navigating the convoluted system of state and federal government services? In Guttenberg, the answers aren’t as difficult to find as you might think.
The Family Resource Center (FRC) in Guttenberg recently released its 2025 annual report, which compiles data from the previous year to see what kinds of services are being used by the local community and whether the demand is growing as time goes on.
The center has many programs, with the most utilized service being the food and hygiene pantry. Guttenberg Municipal Hospital started the FRC in 1999, began distributing hygiene supplies in 2011 and started its food pantry in 2019.
The pantry saw an increase in food by pounds, from 178,081 in 2024 to 211,524 this past year. In 2025, the numbers served included 5,211 families (estimated to be more than 15,000 individuals). Since 2018, these numbers have increased each year. The pantry took in more than 1,300 donations and logged more than 2,600 volunteer hours.
“The food need has consistently grown,” said Family Resource Center Coordinator Kari Harbaugh. “Overall the cost of living over the last several years has gone up so much—we have a large population on a set income, whether they’re disabled, elderly, or underneath the poverty line. That’s one of the reasons that service is so high.”
The food pantry’s high-demand items include easy-to-prepare meals, meats, and fresh produce.
FRC also started making food deliveries to McGregor approximately 5 months ago. They started with approximately 30 boxes for seniors and people with disabilities.
“We’re not meant to be the answer to everything—we will fill a gap, but we’re always looking for partners to help find an answer to the problem,” said Harbaugh.
In 2025, the food pantry distributed holiday meal boxes three times: Easter (217 households), Thanksgiving (309) and Christmas (344). All of these numbers are increases over the previous year (193, 261 and 271, respectively), according to the FRC 2024 annual report.
Harbaugh said they increased the holiday food boxes this past year. “We thought we would see more people than usual, which we did. This year, there were quite a bit more.”
The center saw an increase in food pantry and services traffic during the uncertainty of the government shutdown and the SNAP program.
“We immediately worked on preparing an action plan for families that would not receive the SNAP benefits in November as well as increasing our supply for holiday food boxes, expecting additional families due to the timing of the government shutdown,” said Harbaugh. “The impact was a collaborative effort between volunteers, businesses, schools, and agencies in getting the word out to the communities around us and the manpower it took to pick up food, pack food boxes, and distribute food boxes to families.”
The FRC’s SNAP Emergency Assistance distributed food boxes to 161 different households, 43 of which were households that had not utilized service at the FRC previously, according to the center’s 2025 annual report.
Throughout the year, the center also provided other services, including legal referrals; support for mental health and substance abuse; arrangements for transportation (including gas cards); housing and utilities support; medical and adaptive equipment; and resources for the elderly, among many others.
“Most of the things we do—like how we’re able to do these things and all the things that cost money—we’re only able to do because we have community support. People in our area value this and donate to it, whether it’s monetary or physical things. We thank everybody who supports us because we couldn’t make these numbers without people helping us. Everyone that helps us—this is a reflection of them,” said Harbaugh.
She also noted that 100 percent of donations go to the service specified by the donor—not to staff costs or overhead. “We’re very fortunate that we can do that. The donations all got to what [donors] want them to go for.”
Other numbers from the 2025 report:
- FRC helped distribute 158 winter coats between October and December.
- The Back to School Supply Project served 233 children.
- The Back-Pack Food Program with Clayton Ridge Schools served 58 elementary students and 34 in middle and high school.
- The Family Resource Center’s Healthy Kids Iowa Summer Initiative, which served 452 children.
- Another program the FRC facilitates is the Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP), which served 634 clients this past year, reportedly saving more than $3 million.
- The FRC received grants from Alpine (Airon Charity), Casey’s, Kwik Trip Cars, Clayton County Foundation for the Future, Upper Mississippi Gaming Corporation, Black Hills Energy, Walmart and the Foundation of Cornerstone Communities.
