Earlier this year Hunger Solutions Minnesota, a long-time grant recipient of Open Your Heart, announced a $1 million Summer Child Hunger Initiative to help food shelves feed hungry children during the summer. The funds support hundreds of thousands of children who qualify for free- and reduced-price meals during the school year but get little support during the summer months.
The initiative was made possible by federal emergency funding from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. A grant from Open Your Heart gave Hunger Solutions the leverage it needed to be eligible for the federal funds.
As we near the end of summer, here are a few updates from participating food shelves to offer a glimpse of the impact this initiative has made on the lives of children and their families:
- Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis organized a “Backpack Snack Attack” with volunteers from Ameriprise Financial to stuff 400 backpacks for kids served by Catholic Charities. Each backpack was filled with milk, peanut butter and jelly, canned soup and canned fruit as well as hygiene supplies and information about the Food Support program.
- North Anoka County Emergency (NACE) Food Shelf is using the funds to purchase more fresh produce for families visiting the food shelf. The produce comes from two Oak Grove growers—Will Heal Farms and Lone Wolf Nursery and Greenhouses. NACE has also increased the number of food shelf visits each family is allowed to make in a year from ten to twelve. Before the summer of 2009, families were limited to just six visits per year.
- C.R.O.S.S. Center of Benton County created “Kids Packs” to give out to school-age children visiting the food shelf during July and August. Through this program each child receives a paper grocery bag filled with a gallon of milk and non-perishables, a plastic grocery bag packed with cooler items and another plastic grocery bag packed with freezer items. Thanks to this grant, they have had enough food to give out to every child who visits the food shelf.
Read more about the Summer Child Hunger Initiative
