The North Liberty Community Pantry is expanding with a new facility designed to better serve local families. The upcoming 10,500-square-foot building will feature a larger shopping area, expanded food storage, and improved accommodations for volunteers and staff.

Ryan Bobst, executive director of the North Liberty Food Pantry, said the expansion is driven by a ballooning need in the community.

In 2020, 20 percent of families served by the pantry reported it provided the majority of their weekly food, according to data presented to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. By 2024, that number had surged to 82 percent.

“The cost of food is 30 percent higher than it was before the pandemic,” Bobst said.

In 2024, Bobst said, the pantry logged just under 20,000 visits — a 134 percent increase from the previous year. He said the pantry also distributed 153 percent more food, and 662 percent more clothing items. The amount of groceries delivered by the pantry to families who are unable to shop in person rose by over 1,000 percent, Bobst said.

“[It’s] clearly a significant amount of growth in a short period of time,” Bobst said. “Those numbers are all records, and it’s not even really close. So, that created that sense of urgency to build a new space.”

RELATED: JoCo Board approves $50,000 for North Liberty Community Pantry expansion

In addition to an increase in space to store food, the new pantry, which is being constructed on a three-acre lot at 350 W Penn St., will offer increased accessibility from the North Liberty bike trail.

“On our groundbreaking day, we had a woman who is in a wheelchair drive her motorized scooter up on the bike path to join us,” Bobst said. “She can’t physically get to the pantry today, but she can physically get to our new location. So, that was really exciting for us to see her there and celebrate with her.”

For Britta Cavinder, a Johnson County resident who has relied on the pantry’s services multiple times, the expansion is especially exciting because of its wide range of resources and warm, welcoming environment.

“People were so incredibly kind. I didn’t feel like they were taking pity on me. They took a genuine interest in me and my son,” Cavinder said. “And there were aisles where I could actually shop. I had access to diapers for my son, there were clothes for kids.”

Before her son was born, Cavinder said she built a successful career as a franchise consultant for Jimmy John’s, but when the job’s travel demands became difficult to balance with parenthood, she transitioned to a full-time general manager position at a restaurant.

But when her son, now eight, was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, Cavinder said she shifted to part-time and gig work to better accommodate his needs as a single mother — a move she said came with a 75 to 85 percent pay cut.

“It was very, very difficult. But I really had no choice to be able to get him to the nine to 11 appointments a week that he needed,” Cavinder said. “I’ve been blessed with the most amazing, happy boy, and I will do anything to set him up for success in this world.”

Growing up in a large family with a sister who had cerebral palsy and required costly medical treatments, Cavinder said her family often relied on their local food pantry.

“There was a lot of shame attached to that as a child, and I never wanted to be in that position,” Cavinder said. “I went into [the North Liberty Food Pantry] expecting that [shame], and what I found was just absolutely better than I could have ever imagined.”

Beyond the typical dry goods found at a food pantry, Cavinder appreciates the diverse food options at the North Liberty facility as well as the family-like community and the time her son has spent in the pantry’s garden.

“My son doesn’t use a lot of verbal communication, but he sure learned how to garden,” Cavinder said. “It’s just so fun.”

National data from the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement shows that, on average, food insecurity levels are more than twice as high as they were before the pandemic — a reality Cavinder said has affected her household as rising food prices outpace stagnant wages.

“Through everything, the shortage of food and the increase in prices, the ability to go there and get fresh produce year-round is tremendous,” Cavinder said of the North Liberty Food Pantry. “And so different from any other pantry I have ever been in.”

Cavinder said her first-hand experience with the food pantry’s impact motivated her to apply for a board position when a vacancy opened.

“I just thought it was important that someone that actually used the services have a voice on the board,” Cavinder said.

During its Feb. 20 formal session, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $50,000 in funding for the construction of the new pantry. Board Chair Jon Green called the pantry “vital” and expressed his excitement to support its new location.

“We are living through a particularly perilous and uncertain time. As much as we’d like to be able to depend upon the federal and state governments, we cannot,” Green said. “So it’s going to be through local action and community building that we save one another.”