While the other preschoolers were warming up to the vegetable pesto lasagna, 3-year-old Avery Bennett dived in with no hesitation.

“Can I have some more lasagna?” Bennett said from her booster seat.

Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minneapolis) introduced the School Meals Stigma Reduction Act of 2010, H.R. 5167. The legislation would curtail practices by some school districts that stigmatize children when their families cannot afford to pay for school meals. Thousands of Minnesota children depend on federally subsidized school meals.

Good nutrition is key to healthy aging, yet many seniors would rather skip meals or skimp on food than ask for help.

“Because only half the families eligible for food stamps use food stamps, all of that federal money stays in Washington and doesn’t come to Minnesota. It doesn’t come to families who need it, doesn’t come to children who are hungry, and doesn’t come to communities where that money would be spent.”

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The peas and beans are sprouting in pots.

Tomatoes, strawberries, peppers and almost “everything that you can grow in the Midwest” should be next.

Melissa Rogers and her 9-year-old daughter, Adrianna, can’t wait to get out into the new Advent Community Garden in Eagan.

“We’re super excited,” Rogers said.

They’ll join dozens of south-metro residents who will dig into community gardens t

Between job loss, unemployment and foreclosures, some Minnesotans are facing a lean year, but there is positive news for those seeking help from food shelves. Legislators are considering the Emergency Food Shelf Funding bill, the only proposed legislation this year that would increase state funding at a time other programs are being cut or held flat.

Feeding hungry Minnesotans isn’t as simple as green beans here and hungry people there.

An entire system needs to work for leftover sweet corn from southeast Minnesota to reach hungry people across the state.

It’s the job of the Feeding Minnesota Task Force to find what’s available and to recommend how that food can make its way from farms and farmers markets to food shelves and ultimately h

The provision would allow taxpayers to donate to food shelves and homeless-prevention programs on their income tax returns, much as some taxpayers do by checking a box to donate to funding non-game wildlife.

“Many of our clients would have a difficult time staying in their homes if we didn’t provide grocery deliveries,” she said. “Well, for many, it would be impossible.”

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A new study finds that poverty in early childhood has more harmful effects than poverty in adolescence, with the largest impacts on the poorest children.