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State Representative Leon Lillie
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-1188
For more information contact: Christina Gosack 651-296-5524
NEWS COLUMN
Thank You to Local Citizens Who Serve Needy With Food Shelf
The recent article in these pages about the North St. Paul Area Emergency Food Shelf really made me appreciate the great work of community volunteers and local businesses like Triple Crown Batting Cages who contribute their time and resources to help needy families put food on the table. People in our area may not be aware that Second Harvest Heartland, Minnesota's largest hunger-relief organization, also has its headquarters right in Maplewood. While March was Minnesota food shelf awareness month, these organizations need our support year-round.
Linda and Dave Zick, president and director of the North St. Paul Area Food Shelf, lead a team of senior citizen volunteers to provide food for 150 to 240 North St. Paul, Maplewood and Oakdale families a month. The March food shelf awareness drive mentioned in the recent article was a big success, bringing in 23,497 pounds of food and $20,839 in financial support. The March drive and the two-city competition for donations between North St. Paul and Oakdale from October to December generate the biggest support of the year. The North St. Paul Emergency Food Shelf partners with Second Harvest Heartland to acquire some of the groceries it distributes.
Second Harvest Heartland is a food bank that supplies groceries to emergency food shelves and organizations like homeless shelters and soup kitchens, and its main headquarters and warehouse are in Maplewood. The Maplewood food bank is the 6th largest in the national network of over 200 America's Second Harvest food banks. Second Harvest Heartland acquires food through donations from manufacturers, community food drives, USDA commodities, and some purchasing that it warehouses and distributes to 800 partner agencies across Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. Second Harvest focuses on getting food in and shipped out of its warehouse as quickly as possible to serve needy families and the elderly across Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Because it gets food through corporate donations and at reduced prices, for every $1 donated to Second Harvest Heartland, it can provide $9 worth of food to the needy. The North St. Paul Area Food Shelf pays a handling fee to Second Harvest but does not pay for the donated food. A lot of the food Second Harvest distributes might otherwise have been wasted, like mislabeled or overproduced products manufacturers donate, or USDA commodities that are made from farm surpluses.
We don't often think about people in our community going hungry, but clearly both the North St. Paul Food Shelf and Second Harvest are filling a real need. The support of volunteers and donations helps them provide food for needy families with young children and for the elderly. I thank the food shelves and their volunteers and I hope we all do what we can to help others in need by contributing volunteer time and support to these organizations.
To make donations, volunteer or receive food contact:
North St. Paul Area Emergency Food Shelf: Tel. (651) 770-1309 2538 E Seppala Boulevard North St. Paul
Second Harvest Heartland: http://www.2harvest.org/ Tel. (651) 484-5117
If you have comments or questions on this or any other legislative issues, please contact me at (651) 296-1188, by e-mail at rep.leon.lillie@house.mn, or at 353 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Saint Paul, MN 55155.
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