Local food shelves are facing a perfect storm of price increases and supply chain problems as they struggle to provide food for a growing number of people who, like them, are having trouble keeping their larders stocked. The food shelves are seeing record numbers of clients, and many of them are first-time patrons.
Keystone Community Services, which operates food shelves in Saint Paul’s Midway and North End neighborhoods as well as a mobile unit, tallied 1,138 new clients in June alone, according to president and CEO Mary McKeown. That is up from 371 new clients in June of 2021, she said. Total households served last month were 3,019, compared to 1,488 in June of 2021.
Neighborhood House, which operates the Francis Basket food shelf on Saint Paul’s West End, and the Open Hands Midway food shelf at Bethany Lutheran Church reported similar trends. Operators there blame the increased demand on several factors, including inflationary increases in the cost of household goods and the expiration of government subsidies instituted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Families are really struggling to make ends meet,” said Nancy Brady, Neighborhood House president and CEO.
Keystone asks new patrons to fill out a short questionnaire regarding their job status and monthly income. The agency has found that the majority of those people have jobs but do not get paid enough to meet their living expenses. “Their budgets don’t work any more,” McKeown said.
The three food shelves are hoping to benefit this month from the 13th annual Open Your Heart Summer Challenge sponsored by Hunger Solutions Minnesota and Open Your Heart to the Hungry. The two agencies will match dollar-for-dollar all of the funds raised in July by participating food shelves.
A growing number of Keystone’s clients are senior citizens. McKeown attributes that trend at least in part to Keystone’s efforts to reach low-income seniors at their home with its mobile foodshelf.
Open Hands Midway does not require clients to fill out any documentation, according to president and CEO Kay Kuehn. However, she has noticed an uptick in seniors served, especially near the end of the month when many people who depend on Social Security or other governmental programs run out of money.
A perfect storm of new challenges
The food shelves are also struggling with a shortage of food related to interruptions in the global supply chain. Adding to the challenge are the vastly increased prices charged by Second Harvest Heartland, the agency that distributes food to more than 1,000 food shelves, shelters and other meal programs across Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
McKeown cited a doubling in the price of a case of ground beef over the past year—from $35 to between $65 and $85. Open Hands Midway’s cost for a 45-pound case of chicken has more than tripled during the same period—from $20 to $70, Kuehn said. In addition, many of the staples the food shelves used to purchase from Second Harvest Heartland are no longer available.
How you can help
The three food shelves are hoping to benefit this month from the 13th annual Open Your Heart Summer Challenge sponsored by Hunger Solutions Minnesota and Open Your Heart to the Hungry. The two agencies will match dollar-for-dollar all of the funds raised in July by participating food shelves.
Open Hands Midway received a Summer Challenge grant of $4,000 last year. This summer, the food shelf has sent out an appeal to potential donors and hopes to raise at least $1,000 from a golf outing, dinner and silent auction on July 31.
Keystone needs to raise $250,000 by the end of 2022 to meet its expenses. “We have a generous community,” said McKeown, including corporate and individual donors and local faith communities that conduct food drives for the items Keystone especially needs.
Keystone’s Midway food shelf at 1916 University Ave. is open five days a week—from 10 a.m.-noon and 1:30-3:30 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and from 10 a.m.-noon and 5-7 p.m. on Wednesdays.
The Francis Basket food shelf, which is located in Unit 410 at Sibley Manor Apartments, 1295 E. Maynard Dr., is open from 9-11:30 a.m. on Mondays and from 1-3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Open Hands Midway’s food shelf at 436 N. Roy St. is open from noon-2 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. It also provides prepared meals for takeout on Mondays and Wednesdays beginning at noon.
For information on donating to the food shelves or on volunteering to work there, visit keystonecommunityservices.org, neighb.org or openhandsmidway.org.
— Carolyn Walkup
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