Hunger in spotlight during FoodShare Month

“It’s a great way for someone’s dollar to be stretched,” said Angie Cruzen, Gather and Grow executive director. “Financial donations continue to be the biggest impact because we have a lot of buying power with our food banks. We are now spending over $2,000 more a month on needed items to keep our shelves full.”

A list of the food shelf’s most- needed items includes:

• Oatmeal packets

• Cereal

• 100% Juice

• Hearty Soups

• Peanut Butter

• Canned Pasta Varieties

• Brown or White Rice

• Pasta Varieties Pasta Sauces

• Taco Seasoning

• Taco Shells

• Canned Chili

• Crackers

• Ground Coffee

• Kleenex

• Lotion

• Diapers (Sizes 4, 5, 6)

• Baby Wipes

• Granola Bars

• Cleaning Supplies

• Cooking Broth

Hunger Relief Collaborative

This month, the spotlight also is on the Carver County Hunger Relief Collaborative, formed at the end of 2021 with support of the Carver County Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP). The collaborative was created to eliminate food insecurity in Carver County by leveraging community partnerships and strengthening the hunger relief system in the county, according to a news release from Carver County Public Health. SHIP is a state-based program that works at the local level to support healthier communities by expanding opportunities for active living, healthy eating, well-being and commercial tobacco-free living.

Current partners in the Collaborative include CAP Agency, A Better Society, The Humanity Alliance, Bountiful Basket Food Shelf, Gather and Grow Food Shelf and Connection Center, Chaska Police Department, school nutrition directors, school social workers, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, His House Foundation, area farmers, Chaska Moravian Church, Carver County Environmental Services, Carver County Public Health, Mi CASA, Second Harvest Heartland and individual community members.

“We have so many worthy organizations fighting against hunger in our county and we are uniting to work smarter not harder,” Cruzen said about Gather and Grow’s involvement in the Hunger Relief Collaborative. “We ask questions like how can we partner together to provide sustainable aid to our neighbors? What resources are within our county that food shelves can maximize and use to reach all that are hungry. The Collaborative is in the beginning stages but will create a foundation for years to come on providing access to healthy food to families living in Carver County.”

According to organizers with the Collaborative, hunger in Carver County comes in many forms. For some it is not knowing if there will be enough money to pay for groceries, or it could be a mother skipping dinner so her children do not go to bed hungry, or for some individuals and families it’s relying on a local food shelf to get through the month.

The partnership will continue its efforts in 2023 thanks to successes in 2022.

Although still in its infancy, the Collaborative successfully developed and ran the Summer Meals for Kids program this past summer at five sites in Carver County, providing food to nearly 4,500 families and approximately 7,790 children. Approximately 150 volunteers spent more than 1,500 hours helping to operate the summer meals program, demonstrating substantial community support for this work. Nearly 80 percent of families who used this program reported experiencing food insecurity in the past year, according to a press release.

Many participants in the summer meals program openly shared stories of why they were using food assistance programs, and it was clear that the effort was especially welcomed by families and individuals because of recent surges in food costs. One participant shared, “I didn’t know what I was going to do. Our house is paid off, but we don’t have any money for food because we are unable to work and food prices keep rising.”

This past November, several community organizations worked together, with the assistance of the Collaborative, to ensure residents in the community had access to food over the Thanksgiving holiday. For some, it was a prepared meal delivered to their doorstep, and for others it was culturally specific food to make into a meal at home.

Each organization involved in the effort took ownership of their program, and the Collaborative helped filled in gaps and shared resources. When one program reached capacity, people were referred to the next. If one organization received a large donation, it was shared with other programs.

Some of the Thanksgiving meals efforts included: Love Inc delivered Thanksgiving turkeys and fixings to 279 families throughout the County with support from Mi CASA; St. John’s Lutheran Church/Chaska Cares prepared and delivered hundreds of premade meals to seniors and other community members; Bountiful Basket Food Shelf provided turkeys and fixings to their 400 shoppers; as well as other efforts by Carver County, CAP Agency, His House Foundation, The Humanity Alliance, and others.

“Hunger relief is like ‘paint by numbers’—no one organization can do it all, but together we can create a strong network of organizations that work together to make sure that everyone in this community has access to food,” said Richard Scott, Deputy Division Director of Carver County Health & Human Services.

The Collaborative is currently working to complete its strategic plan for 2023. The plan will focus, in part, on leveraging resources, filling gaps, and thinking bigger picture in terms of addressing hunger and food needs in Carver County. Work is also currently underway to create a pilot project snack program in partnership with schools and food shelves so all students have access to healthy snacks during the school day so they can focus on learning. Teachers are sharing stories of how snacks are necessary for students experiencing food insecurity, providing examples of how addressing student hunger can improve concentration and behaviors.

“We encourage any Carver County organizations, or individuals, that are interested in helping in this effort to reach out and work with us,” said Caitlin Huiras, a Public Health program specialist with Carver County.