• Republicans aim to overhaul the state’s cash assistance programs ahead of the 2012 election

One month into a session that is not exactly threatening any legislative land-speed records on most policy fronts, Republican legislators have already introduced at least a dozen bills containing changes to eligibility rules for poor people seeking cash assistance.

The proposals include four bi

• Business, nonprofit and government collaborate to alleviate hunger

MINNEAPOLIS (February 22, 2012) — Hunger-Free Minnesota and Hunger Solutions Minnesota announced today that they are launching a statewide outreach and awareness campaign this week to reach seniors and the recently unemployed with information about their eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Helping some 90,000 Minnesotans put food on the table is the goal of a new campaign kicking off today.

The coordinated outreach effort will seek out those people who are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program but not enrolled, according to Colleen Moriarty, executive director of Hunger Solutions Minnesota.

“We’ve been more successful at getting people aware of the fact th

In August, Brooklyn Mosaic United Methodist Church opened a food shelf just for homeless teenagers.

“The schools (in our area) were the first to see the problem, and they began sounding the alarm,” said Rev. Rachel Morey, the pastor at Mosaic.

The church looked at data from three school districts: Anoka-Hennepin, Brooklyn Center and Osseo-Maple Grove.

Picture a food shelf: Canned vegetables, boxes of cereal, jars of peanut butter and packages of pasta, right?

Think again.

At the Eagan and Lakeville Resource Centers, about half of the food offered to those in need has been fresh or perishable — produce, milk, eggs, even meat and fish — and this year, the growing food shelf hopes 70 percent of the food it distributes to Dakota County resi

One poster in a new campaign to end hunger in Minnesota features a smiling Caucasian man dressed in t-shirt and sweatshirt. It reads, in part: “Drew Age: 42, Currently Unemployed. He uses SNAP.

February is typically the slowest month of the year for the Eagan Resource Center’s food shelf. But this month, Eagan Resource Center Director Lisa Horn isn’t expecting any slowdown.

That’s because the number of users accessing the food shelf has grown explosively over the last two years, Horn said.

Any day of the week you might find Forrest Gregory sorting through piles of lettuce at SonLight Church in Blaine, hauling boxes of fruit into Refuge of Hope Church in Andover, or lining up milk, frozen meat and avocadoes along tables at Fridley Covenant Church.

Sometimes he gets so lost in the juggling act that his wife has to remind him to come home at night.

“I’ll call him on his cell and

Recognizing the growing need for Minnesotans, particularly seniors, to eat nutritiously to maintain their health, Lt. Gov.

Read all the hunger stories in the Julie Siple archive.

The number of Minnesotans who sought help to feed themselves and their families hit record levels in 2011. Never before have so many people visited food shelves or relied on food stamps.