With children not having balanced school meals in front of them every weekday, the North Anoka County Emergency (NACE) Food Shelf wants to make sure kids are getting their vegetables.

NACE will be able to provide more fresh vegetables to families for the rest of this summer thanks to a grant from Hunger Solutions.

Joanne Yackel, director of NACE, said the vegetables will be purchased from two Oak Grove growers – Will Heal Farms and Lone Wolf Nursery and Greenhouses.

NACE recently took over operations of the Linwood Township food shelf at 22817 Typo Creek Drive N.E. Hours of operation there are Thursdays and Fridays from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m.

The East Bethel location at 18511 Highway 65 N.E. is open Mondays from 9 a.m. to noon, Tuesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Wednesdays from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

Another major change is families will be able to have 12 total visits to the two NACE locations, so somebody could stop by the East Bethel location 10 times and the Linwood Township location two times during a full year, for example.

The NACE East Bethel location used to limit visits to eight per year. Before the summer of 2009, it was six visits per year.

Yackel does not know how many visits per year were allowed at the Linwood Township food shelf before NACE agreed to take this over in June. The Linwood location used to be run by the community’s senior center coordinator Judy Hanna, who asked NACE to take over because it is a non-profit organization.

Yackel said the Emergency Food Assistance Program through the United States Department of Agriculture is requiring food shelves to provide food at least once a month over a year-long period to a family in need. Failure to comply would jeopardize NACE’s ability in the future to receive grants like the one it just received from Hunger Solutions.

A family may choose to get all 12 visits to NACE in during a six-month period because their rough patch does not last a whole year. As long as NACE allows 12 stops per year, it is in compliance.

Yackel said this requirement means NACE will be giving out more food, but she is not concerned that the food shelf may run short.

However, she said this is a good opportunity to remind the public that there is always a need for donations.

If you have further question, contact Yackel at 763-434-7685

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