Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL-Faribault) was at a church service a few months ago when a woman in a neighboring pew tapped her on the shoulder. The woman told Fritz she had worked all her life, but was struggling to feed her children in light of her husband’s job loss. She asked Fritz to do something about it.

Now Fritz sponsors one of two bills targeted at hungry Minnesotans — a growing group. One in 10 Minnesotans visited a food shelf last year, with total visits up by 23 percent from 2008. As of November, more than 400,000 Minnesotans were enrolled in Food Support, the federal nutrition assistance program formerly called food stamps.

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