Challenge Yourself to End Hunger
Accept the 2021 Food Shelf Challenge from Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless and Catholic Charities Food Shelf This July
You Can Make a Difference for Hungry Families in Our Community
Minnesota summers were made for trips to the cabin, boat rides on the lake, and farmers market outings, not food shelf visits. Children are home from school and the family budget is tight. Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf helps provide nutritious fruits and vegetables to these families and needs your help this summer.
In a normal summer, we see an increase in child visits during the summer. When school is out for summer vacation, many children miss out on free school meals and their families turn to us for support. This summer, between the kids being home from school and more families out of work or experiencing economic hardship due to the pandemic, we’re seeing a greater level of need.
Make a Bigger Impact on Hunger in Our Community This July
Every day, Minnesotans make over 10,000 visits to food shelves statewide – that is more than seven visits to a food shelf every minute if food shelves were open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In 2020, Minnesota food shelf visits were up 7% from the year before, setting a new record high of over 3.8 million visits. Children represented 35.7% of food shelf visits in Minnesota with a total of 1,368,251 visits. Even before COVID-19, there was a record level of need across the state. Catholic Charities Food Shelf has seen an increase with the number of Mobile Food Shelf visits and with the new Hunger Doesn't Wait food delivery program. The food shelf is also seeing new registrants, which means more people are accessing Catholic Charities Food Shelf for the first time.
You can make a difference this year by donating throughout the month of July. The more you donate, the larger our food shelf’s grant from Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless will be. The challenge funds will proportionally match your donation. Your financial donation will go further due to our buying power. We can purchase food from our food bank for pennies on the pound.
Since 1986, Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless has targeted millions of dollars to strategically fight hunger in Minnesota. Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless funds the purchase and transfer of more than one million pounds of fresh produce, meat, and dairy products to food shelves every year. Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless also provides grants for food shelves and food banks to get the equipment they need—like freezers, shelving and trucks—to be able to serve the growing number of Minnesotans who can’t afford enough food for their families.
Hunger Solutions Minnesota is the statewide organization that coordinates this challenge grant opportunity. Hunger Solutions works to end hunger via the Minnesota Food HelpLine and by advancing fair public nutrition policies on behalf of hungry Minnesotans. Hunger Solutions also connects Minnesota’s food shelves with funding and technical assistance to support the 10,000+ daily food shelf visits statewide.
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