In Duluth, four food shelves benefit from the food drive: The Union Gospel Mission, Churches United in Ministry, the Salvation Army and Vineyard Christian Fellowship. They’ll divvy the food up in the coming days.
CHUM got about 40,000 pounds of food last year. It gives away about 5,000 pounds of food a week, so the Letter Carriers Food Drive should last the food shelf about two months.
International Falls Hunger Coalition reported that 44 more households visited the food shelf in the first three months of 2008 compared to the same time period in 2007, representing an increase of 11 percent.
Last year I authored a bill giving Minnesota hunters an opportunity to give harvested deer for processing to food shelves free of charge. Prior to the passage of the bi-partisan legislation, hunters had limited or expensive options to donate their venison. Hunters immediately made use of the program, donating thousands of pounds of venison distributed to 68 participating food shelves statewide.
Carol Perkins climbed into the refrigerated truck parked behind the Salvation Army in Duluth.
“OK, what you got?” Perkins cheerfully asked the truck’s driver, John Kleppe, as her eyes scanned the shelves filled with food inside the truck.
More people are struggling to put food on their tables than ever before.
The evidence is in the growing lineup outside the North Anoka County Emergency (NACE) food shelf in East Bethel every week.
The food shelf was established in 1985 to respond to three or four local families in need.
But the current economy is putting more pressure on people’s incomes, who are then turning to area food shelves to fill their own cupboards. The week before Easter, NACE provided food for 31 local families.
Venison Distribution Hold
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has asked that we advise Minnesota food shelves not to distribute or use donated ground venison because of the potential contamination with lead fragments. Please stop distribution of all venison and hold on your inventory. We will keep you updated and will pass on additional information as we receive it.
“We just want people who need food to know we are here for them,” she stressed. “And we don’t want people to let pride stand in the way of a need. Our goal is to make sure no one goes hungry.”
March is Food Shelf Month, so the Echo Press contacted the local food shelf, which has been in existence since 1982, to find out more about what it does, how the community can help and how many people it serves each year.
In the last 10 years, the Douglas County Food Shelf has helped nearly 62,000 people – that’s about to six times the population of Alexandria.
But as she was talking about Malawi to various community groups, Sitts continually faced the question “what about the people here.”
Like the children of Malawi, it’s the same here for some families, she said.
The food shelves have limited items and families are limited on how many times they can visit, said Sitts.
“As a hunger advocate, internationally and now locally, I am committed to encouraging others to respond to those in crisis in our community,” she said.
As the economic situation worsens, the number of people in need will rise, said Sitts.
Hines pointed to Princeton Pantry serving 13-14 families a day five years ago. “Now it is almost 20 and that’s on a pretty regular basis,” she said.
The donations have been coming in fine from the local people but the average donations in food, not counting monetary donations, in March, is 12,000 pounds, said Hines. That, she said, is about what Princeton Pantry now gives out in a month’s time.
The DHS staff has teamed up with Freeborn County Highway Department employees to collect as many food items as possible.