Food At First

Food At First Food At First is a free meal program + perishable food pantry, serving anyone who is hungry in Ames and surrounding areas. Everyone welcome, no questions asked.

Community Meal Mon-Fri & Sun at 5:45 PM - Saturday at 11:30 AM - 611 Clark Ave, lower level

Free Perishable Market Monday & Thursday 4:45PM and Saturday at 10AM at 611 Clark Ave, lower level. No questions asked and all are welcome!!

MEAL WILL BE HELD AS USUAL!!! Food At First’s Free Market will not be held Monday, May 25th due to Memorial Day. Market...
05/21/2026

MEAL WILL BE HELD AS USUAL!!!

Food At First’s Free Market will not be held Monday, May 25th due to Memorial Day. Market will be held Tuesday, May 26th 4:30-5:30pm, instead!
Thursday and Saturday Markets have no change, and the meal will still be served like usual at 5:45pm-6:15pm on May 25th.

A HUGE thank you to Gilbert Highschool FFA for raising $1,000 and using said funds to purchase needed food items from Fa...
05/13/2026

A HUGE thank you to Gilbert Highschool FFA for raising $1,000 and using said funds to purchase needed food items from Fareway! These members even came in to learn how to sort items into our pantry- what a great help 😁😁😁

Friday, April 24th and Saturday, April 25th Food at First volunteers participated in the 25th annual Stash the Trash eve...
05/04/2026

Friday, April 24th and Saturday, April 25th Food at First volunteers participated in the 25th annual Stash the Trash event in Ames. Thank you so much to these awesome crews for all of the hard work they put in to help! We were glad to help reduce litter around town.

P.S. The June volunteer schedule is out! If you’re wanting some summer volunteering, go to Foodatfirst.com and visit our “get involved” page. 😁

Food at First volunteers prepare and serve a hot meal every day of the week. Head Chef volunteers take on the task of ad...
04/13/2026

Food at First volunteers prepare and serve a hot meal every day of the week. Head Chef volunteers take on the task of adapting recipes to feed what is often over 100 people.

Recipes served in our kitchen could be something passed down from a family member, from someone’s favorite cookbook, and are always a demonstration of the dedication we have to serving good meals to anyone who is hungry in our community.

Thank you to our amazing volunteers! 👩‍🍳👨‍🍳🧑‍🍳

Here is Part 2 to the trivia question we posted Tuesday! Thank you for taking a second to guess 😊😊 Answer: Food at First...
04/09/2026

Here is Part 2 to the trivia question we posted Tuesday! Thank you for taking a second to guess 😊😊

Answer: Food at First volunteers make 52 regular gleaning stops each week! Everyone was super close 🎉🎉

In 2025 alone, Food at First volunteers unloaded 1.75 million pounds of donated food by hand.

By keeping this edible food out of the landfill, our volunteers and partners reduce waste, conserve water, and prevent unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions while actively feeding individuals and families in our community. Thank you to our gleaners for all that they do!

P.S. The May schedule is posted! 🌸🌸🌸

Food at First volunteers glean food every day from various local stores and restaurants. If you ever see our Food at Fir...
04/07/2026

Food at First volunteers glean food every day from various local stores and restaurants. If you ever see our Food at First van out and about 👀👀 that’s likely what we’re doing!

Collecting food from these locations provides the majority of the food used in our daily Free Meal and our thrice-weekly Free Market, which supplies thousands of combined meals and meal-ingredients to those in our community each week.

Take a guess- how many gleaning stops do you think Food at First volunteers make in a regular week?😊😊 Part 2 will be posted this Thursday with the answer! 📝📝

Hello! We are very surprised to say- Food at First is in need of 12 count egg cartons again! They can be delivered to t...
03/23/2026

Hello! We are very surprised to say- Food at First is in need of 12 count egg cartons again! They can be delivered to the lower level of 611 Clark Ave. Thank you for helping us support and redistribute surplus food to our community!

The Ames Branch of the NAACP held its annual Freedom Fund Banquet last Thursday, February 19th. Food at First was honore...
02/23/2026

The Ames Branch of the NAACP held its annual Freedom Fund Banquet last Thursday, February 19th. Food at First was honored to attend and humbled to be recognized as the recipient of the 2026 President’s Award. Thank you to NAACP Ames Branch President, Pastor Moses A. Ward Sr., for presenting Food at First with this prestigious award.

The impact of Food at First would not have been possible, and is not possible, without the thousands of volunteers who decide to make an impact every time they volunteer. Thank you for your dedication to serving those in your community.

We are proud to share a common mission with the Ames NAACP and will continue to strive to serve the citizens of Ames and the surrounding areas with equity and dignity.

There is still work to be done. Everyone is welcome, no questions asked.

We no longer need egg cartons!! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated. If you want an alternative way to recycl...
02/09/2026

We no longer need egg cartons!! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated.

If you want an alternative way to recycle paper/cardboard egg cartons without throwing them in the trash, the City of Ames has Drop-Off Recycling locations around Ames!

Locations that accept the recycling of paper/cardboard egg cartons are listed here!! (DOES NOT INCLUDE STYROFOAM EGG CARTONS)

1. Parks and Recreation Office: 1507 Gateway Hills Park Drive

2. Ames Public Library: 515 Douglas Ave., in the North parking lot

3. Power Plant loading dock: 200 E. Fifth Street

4. East end of Main Street at Duff Ave

5. Central Business District parking lot, South of Main and Tom Evans Park

6. Alley North of Main Street, between Burnett and Kellogg Avenues

THANK YOU!!! ♻️♻️🥚🥚

Because Food at First runs on food donations, we are not able to post a menu ahead of time. However, we would love to sh...
02/02/2026

Because Food at First runs on food donations, we are not able to post a menu ahead of time. However, we would love to share some of this past week’s meals and attendance!


A couple of highlights:

Tuesday we had breakfast-for-dinner 🍳🍳🍳

Friday we had some comfort food 😋😋

Free Market Volunteers were busy handing out eggs by the dozen! (Thank you to everyone who donated egg cartons, including Falcon Packaging! We now have enough to repackage and distribute the eggs we have received 😁)

Our Free Market is running tonight from 4:30-5:30pm, and our Free Meal will be 5:45-6:15pm. Everyone Welcome, No Questions Asked!!

Address

611 Clark Avenue
Ames, IA
50010

Opening Hours

Monday 5:45pm - 6:15pm
Tuesday 5:45pm - 6:15pm
Wednesday 5:45pm - 6:15pm
Thursday 5:45pm - 6:15pm
Friday 5:45pm - 6:15pm
Saturday 11:30am - 12:15pm
Sunday 5:45pm - 6:15pm

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