Each year Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless provides substantial support to Hunger Solutions Minnesota to support statewide distribution of food.
Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless is helping food shelves statewide through a large grant to Hunger Solutions Minnesota. This spring, OYH granted the agency $200,000 to assist it in its mission.
Of the $200,000, $80,000 will go toward fresh produce and other nutritious foods to be distributed through six America’s Second Harvest food banks in Minnesota. The remaining $120,000 will be used for direct food grants to food shelves and emergency meal programs, including supporting summer food needs, grants to food shelves facing crises, grants to emergency meal programs and grants to support the purchase of culturally appropriate and special needs foods.
Payroll deductions aim to end hunger in Minnesota
Current Workplace Giving Campaigns:
We are deeply grateful for the tremendous support that Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless has given to our organization and our members. This support has proven vital in fighting the ever-rising need for emergency food assistance in Minnesota – statewide food shelf usage has risen 62% since 2000. ________________________________________________
The History of Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless
Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless (Open Your Heart) was founded in 1986 by employees of the Minnesota Department of Jobs and Training (Now called the Department of Economic Security).The impetus for creating Open Your Heart was a statewide drive by the Department to raise money and food for Minnesota’s Food Shelves during November 1985. Led by its Commissioner, Joe Samargia, the Department organized a statewide drive to raise the public’s awareness of the needs of the local food shelves. Commissioner Samargia enlisted the services of Giovanna D’agostino (“Mama D”), a Minneapolis restaurateur known for feeding U of M students in her restaurants. As part of this public awareness campaign, a steering committee of Department employees developed the food drive into a competition among the Department’s offices around the state.
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In 2007, Hunger Solutions Minnesota received a grant of $167,000 from Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless. That grant was divided into two purposes: $102,000 was designated for distribution to food shelves to support their purchase of food, and $65,000 was designated to obtain nutritious food for food banks to distribute to their agencies.
A brief summary of the 2007 grant:o Hunger Solutions Minnesota distributes 100% of the funding provided by Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless, and grant funds in both parts of the grant are used strictly for the costs of food. So this means that every dollar of the $167,000 grant given to Hunger Solutions goes right to the tables of those in need.
o The food shelf distribution grant was distributed to 172 food shelves in 69 Minnesota counties. During the first six months of 2007, those 172 food shelves met the needs of over 230,000 household visits. This grant is restricted to the use of food purchase, and food shelves are required to provide food receipts in their grant reports.
o As of December 13th, the food bank food purchase grant has allowed us to obtain over 765,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables for those in need. Items obtained in 2007 have included potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cantaloupe, squash, oranges, beans, and peppers.
o Food bank food purchase funds cover transportation expenses for fresh produce that is available for donation in other parts of the state or country, particularly during months where local donations are unavailable. The food is distributed to food shelves and emergency meal programs by the six America’s Second Harvest food banks serving Minnesota.