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(Urbandale, IA) -- The Urbandale Public Library is letting people donate food in exchange for reduced fines.
“It’s sort of a win-win. We don’t want fines to be a barrier to access for people to come to the library, and of course we wanted to help out our food pantries. We know there has always been a need for that, and it seems to be only growing,” said Staci Stanton of the Urbandale Public Library.
All donated food goes to the Urbandale Food Pantry or the community fridge. The library accepts non-perishable food items and personal care products. With the recent addition of the community fridge, the library now also accepts perishable foods, including milk and eggs. One donated good equals one dollar off a fine.
Stanton says the library typically launches this program twice a year, once in the spring and once ahead of the holiday season.
“A food drive, fine forgiveness, these are just ways we want to make the library accessible for everyone. But we also want to make sure that we are hopefully serving everyone and their needs, which we understand sometimes might just be the basics, which is food,” Stanton said.
The Library’s Food Drive and Fine Forgiveness initiative runs through Sunday. Stanton says donations are accepted year-round, but fine forgiveness will only be offered this week.