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Shortly after picking her daughter Jade, 7, up from school, Janice swings by the food shelf.  Providing her family with healthy food is “everything,” she shares.  Her daughter, a first grader who loves math, also receives breakfast and lunch at school.

With the high cost of living, the extra support helps, as Janice isn’t always able to buy the food, they need from the grocery store.  Janice works her customer service job from home, which makes it easier to cook for her family of four.  Their favorite meal is tacos, and she looks forward to loading up the dish with the vegetables and meat she receives from the food shelf.

Thanks to your generosity, we’re able to supply NE Minnesota and NW Wisconsin’s 60 area food shelves with enough food for 8.2 million meals annually, including fresh produce, dairy and meat so neighbors like Janice can access healthy and nutritious food for their family.  “It really helps, I love it,” she shares

“I saw an ad for volunteers and thought to myself, ‘I’m retired, I can help’,” shares Paula, one of our dedicated volunteers.  She now shares that volunteering provides a “workout,” social interaction and purpose in retirement, “And we’re helping neighbors around us.”

Our work would not be possible without the 1,200 regional volunteers who support our food distribution, sorting, labeling, packing, administrative tasks and so much more.  As we look to our future and the increase in demand we’re experiencing, we know it will take even more volunteers like Paula to ensure our neighbors have access to healthy and nutritious food throughout our 15-county region.

We’re currently seeking individual and group volunteers as we work to “end hunger together in NE Minnesota and NW Wisconsin.”  Volunteers are able to work behind the scenes or on the front lines, individually or in a group, to perform physical or non-physical tasks.  Would you like to join volunteers like Paula?  “Come on in,” she shares with a laugh.  “I’ll show you the ropes!”