I’m reaching out on behalf of a volunteer-led community initiative supporting families in Independent School District 197 in the Twin Cities. When Operation Metro Surge started, many ISD197 families—particularly in our Latino community—experienced significant disruptions to employment, housing stability, and food access. A group of parents and other community members mobilized quickly to provide emergency support including rent assistance, grocery delivery, bus stop monitoring, and transportation. Initially, the grocery delivery operations were run out of the schools. But we knew the schools would eventually need their limited space back and the staff that were helping would need to refocus on learning. School cultural liaisons and social workers were very worried about winding down these school pantries, though, knowing that their families would continue to need support after months out of work.
They asked if our volunteer group could find a centralized location to continue to provide support through the end of the school year. We were fortunate to find a space at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Mendota Heights from which we could continue our food support efforts through delivery of groceries and other staples. We also partnered with a newly formed 501c3, Minnesota Educators Giving Groceries (MN EGG), which was formed by volunteers at one of our school pantries. This week, we received grocery delivery or grocery gift card requests from nearly 90 families identified by the school cultural liaisons and social workers as needing this support. We likely would have had many more, but we shut down signups for the week out of concern over our ability to meet this demand, given dwindling community donations. Fortunately, we will be able to make it happen! But we need support if we are going to sustain this level through the end of the school year
We are seeking partnership support to help sustain and scale this effort through the end of the school year. Our volunteer base is strong and organized, and we are currently serving a growing number of families each week. With additional food sourcing support, we believe we can sustain this effort through the end of the school year. We would greatly appreciate the opportunity to connect and explore how we might partner.
We have volunteers there packing deliveries most mornings M-Th and then doing the deliveries on T and Th afternoons.
ProducePedia
ProducePedia is a free resource that covers the types of fresh produce that can be delivered to food pantries. Each entry includes information on color, taste, and possible uses. People unfamiliar with the vegetable or fruit will learn how to use it, and those who are familiar with it still might learn a fun fact or two!
The Cooperative Extension sites have a wealth of information for any backyard gardener. Once you go to the site (each one if very different from the others) look for a link for “homes and gardens”, “landscape”, “consumer horticulture”, etc. to find information on improving your backyard garden. Neighboring state sites may offer information your own state’s site lacks.
