Minnesota Food Bank Deliveries Up 42% in Three Years

Creativity and Capacity Growth Help Meet Rising Food Assistance Needs

Minneapolis, (January 4, 2012) Hunger-Free Minnesota (www.hungerfreemn.org) announced that its six food bank partners across the state increased their total deliveries of food by 42 percent over a three-year period. The six large Feeding America food banks delivered a total of 61.3 million pounds of food in 2010 to food shelves, food pantries and other food service agencies, compared with 43.1 million pounds in 2008. This data was compiled by EnSearch, Inc., with the support of Hunger Solutions and the six regional Feeding America food banks that are part of the Hunger-Free Minnesota coalition.

“Clearly, the food banks in Minnesota have done an exceptional job of increasing their capacity in the face of rising demand,” said Ellie Lucas, chief campaign officer of Hunger-Free Minnesota. “However, the food banks also need more resources to continue at this level. Data compiled for Hunger-Free Minnesota shows that there are children and adults who are regularly missing meals in every county of the state. As a coalition, we urge people to fight hunger where they live and to donate to local food banks.”

Data compiled by Hunger-Free Minnesota also shows that food banks have become a larger percentage of the sourced food for all food shelves and food-serving agencies. At the North Country Food Bank, Inc., in Crookston, food distribution increased by 79 percent. This year, the food bank opened a new food shelf in Crookston to provide a more convenient location for many in need. North Country Food Bank delivers to more than 150 direct food service locations but some are not open every day. Lack of transportation is often a barrier for those in poverty who can’t travel long distances.

Second Harvest Heartland in St. Paul and Channel One, Inc., in Rochester are two of the food banks that have expanded distribution to increase access and to reach those who may never go to a food shelf. They are delivering food to food shelves and food pantries, but also distribute food to their School Pantry and Summer Food Service Programs, which provide food to children during non-school hours. Second Harvest Heartland also delivers to other food banks in the state, leveraging its significant purchasing power, large storage facilities and well-developed transportation and logistics systems.

Shaye Moris, Executive Director of Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank, said the food bank in Duluth has worked hard to increase food rescue at institutions and grocery retailers. “When school systems or retailers have lower-than-expected demand, it’s critical that we’re ready to immediately pick up that excess food. We then redistribute it safely to help those who really need food assistance. It’s so important that we don’t waste fresh food when so many families and adults are going without meals in our state,” said Moris.

The Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank has added a new refrigerated truck designated for a large statewide food retailer capable of large-volume donations. The food bank has also expanded its warehouse significantly through a grant for increased capacity. It also leverages scarce resources by using the normally empty backhaul route of a local trucking company that makes regular deliveries to the Twin Cities.
“These are some examples of the ingenuity our partner food banks employed in increasing their abilities to meet the needs of hungry Minnesotans,” Lucas added.

Hunger-Free Minnesota is coalition of community leaders and citizens, nonprofit agencies, food banks, food shelves and corporate partners including Hormel Foods, General Mills, Cargill, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, and others. The coalition encourages individuals and organizations to “Fight Hunger Where You Live.”

More information on how to get involved in fighting hunger can be found at the website http://www.hungerfreemn.com/.
Data Sources
Data compiled by Dr. Stacey Stockdill, EnSearch, Inc., for Hunger-Free Minnesota from data provided by Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank and Hunger Solutions.

Resources
http://www.hungerfreemn.org/news/media-center (Localized food bank data)
Minnesota’s Feeding America Food Banks:
Channel One, Inc., Rochester http://www.channel-one.org/
Great Plains Food Bank, Fargo-Moorhead http://www.lssnd.org/greatplainsfoodbank
North Country Food Bank, Crookston http://northcountryfoodbank.org/ Second Harvest Heartland, Twin Cities http://www.2harvest.org
Second Harvest North Central Food Bank, Grand Rapids http://secondharvestncfb.com/
Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank, Duluth http://www.northernlakesfoodbank.org/

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Itasca Holiday Program Toy Donations Needed

Due to the overwhelming need in our community this year, Second Harvest is reporting that donations of toys for the Itasca Holiday Program recipient families are running below previous years. More than 1800 gift bags will be filled on Saturday, December 17th but at this time, there aren’t enough donated gifts to provide each referred child with at least one item.
“There is only one week left for toy collection and our bins are only half full of what we will need to provide for the qualified families next Saturday,” says Sue Estee, Second Harvest Executive Director. “Just when we have desperate families with nothing to give to their children for Christmas, people who have been able to donate in the past are cutting back on their own holiday shopping.” The result will be that the gift portion of the Itasca Holiday Program will have to scale back on what can be added to the toy bags and some children may be left out.

Toy donations are being collected at many local businesses and churches. Donations can be dropped at any of the red and green gingerbread giving tree locations, Toys for Tots locations or brought directly out to Second Harvest during regular business hours. The deadline for toy donations is Friday, December 16th at 5pm.

The primary component of the Itasca Holiday Program is a special food box containing traditional holiday foods and other items to provide for several additional meals. A $15 grocery voucher is included for a holiday turkey or other food item that the family would like. Funds are still needed to provide for the food that needs to be purchased to fill 1700 food boxes.

For more information about how to help Second Harvest’s annual Itasca Holiday Program, call 218.326.4420 or visit www.secondharvestncfb.com.

Second Harvest North Central Food Bank serves 145 hunger relief agencies in Koochiching, Itasca, Cass, Aitkin, Crow Wing, Mille Lacs and Kanabec counties. Almost 4 million pounds of food and grocery products were distributed directly to clients or through member agencies in 2010. For more information regarding Second Harvest North Central Food Bank, visit www.secondharvestncfb.com or call 218.326.4420.

Feeding Hope

This is the time of year that many people become stressed over all the additional obligations the holidays bring on, such as shopping, baking, parties etc. But many people in our community are under continual stress to meet their basic needs. Mothers go without food in order to feed their children. Seniors have to choose between medicine and meals. Dads have to decide whether to pay the heat bill or eat dinner. People in our community make these hard choices every day.

Second Harvest and our local food shelves and related hunger relief organizations work hard every day to help our struggling friends and neighbors meet their basic need for food. These organizations are also struggling to meet the increasing need at the same time that the donated food supply from the food industry and government commodities is dwindling and purchased food costs more to acquire. The numbers of households coming to local food shelves for assistance is up 13% over the same time last year. Since 2008, the numbers of households coming for help is up over 34%! It is a “perfect storm” of increased need in our community and decreased resources to meet those needs. Despite these challenges, we at Second Harvest are doing our best to bring in enough food to fill the missing meal gap for struggling local families.

As you sit down to a holiday meal or rush around shopping for your loved ones, remember there are many in our community who don’t have the means to enjoy the season. Thanks to the support of this caring community, Second Harvest is able to help those kids, seniors and struggling families. Together we are feeding hope.