July 22 - 2 min TV interview with DMCW Frank Cordaro "Extreme heat leads to challenges for Iowa food assistance organizations
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Frank Cordaro
Jul 26, 2025, 11:16:23 AMJul 26
to Iowa Peace List
Des Moines Catholic Worker and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church remain committed to fighting food insecurity, despite the heat-related challenges.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Many people who rely on food pantries and soup kitchens will have to battle the extreme heat this week just to get a meal. The heat can create a new set of challenges for the food assistance organizations who serve them as well.
Des Moines Catholic Worker is an organization that provides free meals, five days a week. When it’s serving time, the door is left open so everyone can access the Catholic Worker home. But on hot days, it can get quite toasty.
“When it's hot, it's really difficult to serve a lot of people in a small space,” Des Moines Catholic Worker co-founder Frank Cordaro said. “We will open up the backyard.”
Cordaro said the heat tends to bring out behavioral issues in the people he serves that he doesn’t normally see.
“Warmer weather makes everybody on edge,” Cordaro said. “People are very quick to argue.”
Over at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, the church’s new community fridge, called the St. Andrew’s Market, is always stocked with plenty of water bottles on hot days.
“We just put in some water bottles and they all went pretty quickly,” parishioner Morrie Bryant said.
Another priority is making sure the community fridge’s fan system is working properly.
“The thing that does concern us, from a mechanical standpoint, is making sure that our refrigerator doesn't get overheated,” Bryant said.
No heat-related challenge will deter either Des Moines organization from fighting food insecurity.
“These are folks who have made it a profession to survive on the streets,” Cordaro said. “They're at life-threatening risk, and our community should wake up to that.”
Des Moines Catholic Worker and St. Andrew’s Market need volunteers to run their programs.
Anyone interested in helping can call Catholic Worker at 512-490-2490 and St. Andrew’s at 515-255-2101.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Many people who rely on food pantries and soup kitchens will have to battle the extreme heat this week just to get a meal. The heat can create a new set of challenges for the food assistance organizations who serve them as well.
Des Moines Catholic Worker is an organization that provides free meals, five days a week. When it’s serving time, the door is left open so everyone can access the Catholic Worker home. But on hot days, it can get quite toasty.
“When it's hot, it's really difficult to serve a lot of people in a small space,” Des Moines Catholic Worker co-founder Frank Cordaro said. “We will open up the backyard.”
Cordaro said the heat tends to bring out behavioral issues in the people he serves that he doesn’t normally see.
“Warmer weather makes everybody on edge,” Cordaro said. “People are very quick to argue.”
Over at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, the church’s new community fridge, called the St. Andrew’s Market, is always stocked with plenty of water bottles on hot days.
“We just put in some water bottles and they all went pretty quickly,” parishioner Morrie Bryant said.
Another priority is making sure the community fridge’s fan system is working properly.
“The thing that does concern us, from a mechanical standpoint, is making sure that our refrigerator doesn't get overheated,” Bryant said.
No heat-related challenge will deter either Des Moines organization from fighting food insecurity.
“These are folks who have made it a profession to survive on the streets,” Cordaro said. “They're at life-threatening risk, and our community should wake up to that.”
Des Moines Catholic Worker and St. Andrew’s Market need volunteers to run their programs.
Anyone interested in helping can call Catholic Worker at 512-490-2490 and St. Andrew’s at 515-255-2101.
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