Minnesota Hunger Partners
Hunger
Solutions Minnesota is a statewide partnership of organizations fighting hunger. The
organization coordinates the efforts and maximizes the resources of its
members, which include the six America’s Second Harvest
affiliated food banks and over 300 food shelves across the state.
Hunger
Solutions works to end hunger today and in the future by providing an
efficient, centralized system of acquisition and distribution of food and
financial resources. This system maximizes the effectiveness of its partner
food banks’ and food shelves’ abilities to get more food to more
people. Hunger Solutions also serves as an advocate for public policies that
seek long-term solutions to the problem of hunger.
Web Site: www.hungersolutions.org
Minnesota FoodShare fights hunger through community action. Each March,
Minnesota FoodShare brings caring people together to participate in Minnesota’s largest drive to
restock food shelves – the annual March Campaign. Thousands of
corporations, congregations, civic groups, schools and individuals come
together to raise millions of pounds of food and dollars to restock the food
shelves of Minnesota, who in turn feed hungry families who need help.
Web Site: www.gmcc.org/foodshare
Minnesota Office of Economic
Opportunity (OEO) was created in 1965 with federal support to
assist local communities to battle poverty and administer anti-poverty
programs. OEO has consistently worked to promote local capacity and efforts
to develop and provide a range of services and advocacy solutions for
Minnesotans experiencing poverty. OEO serves as a vehicle for the voices of low income people to be heard within state government. Operating within the Minnesota Department of Human
Services, OEO links with a diverse array of partners including Communities
Action Agencies, Food and Shelter Programs, the Minnesota Community Action
Association, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, the Minnesota Head Start
Association, the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, Hunger Solutions
Minnesota, the Minnesota WorkForce Center System and the Administration for
Children and Families Region V.
Web Site: www.dhs.state.mn.us/CFS/OEO/default.htm
Food banks maintain inventories of food
products from wholesale overstock, government commodities and private
sources, and distribute supplies to food shelves, emergency meal programs and
other non-emergency social service programs.
There are seven America’s Second Harvest in Minnesota, North Dakota and parts of Wisconsin
Channel One Food Bank www.channel-one.org
Rochester, MN
(507) 287-2350
Feed My People Food Bank
Eau
Claire,
WI
(715) 835-9415
Great Plains Food Bank www.lssnd.org/foodbank.html
Fargo, ND
(701) 232-6219
North Country Food Bank
Crookston, MN
(218) 281-7356
Second Harvest Heartland Food Bank www.2harvest.org
Maplewood, MN
(651) 484-5117
Second Harvest North Central Food Bank http://www.secondharvestncfb.com
Grand
Rapids,
MN
(218) 326-4420
Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank www.northernlakesfoodbank.org
Duluth, MN
(218) 727-5653
Food shelves, run by faith communities,
community centers and other nonprofit agencies, provide food and personal
care products at no cost to people in need. Last year, Minnesota’s 300 food shelves
distributed over 36 million pounds of food to 1.7 million individual visits.
Half of the
individuals served at food shelves are children, 48% are working families and
19% are senior citizens. 85% of the households using food shelves reported
income below the poverty level of $17,050 for a family of four. Families use
food shelves for a variety of reasons; high housing costs, lack of affordable
child care, high energy bills, recent unemployment or underemployment, high
cost of prescription medicine or other short term crises are a few of the
reasons why 1 in 22 Minnesotans relies on a food shelf.
Web Site: http://www.mnhungerpartners.org/fapFS.asp
Emergency feeding programs, also called on-site or hot meal programs, community
kitchens and soup kitchens, have been serving low-income people for many
years at churches, social service agencies, schools, community centers and
drop in centers frequented by homeless and low-income persons.
Donors and Volunteers are critical to the acquisition
of food. Contact your local food bank, food shelf or onsite to see how you
can help.
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