52 Weeks of Giving - Week 9 (Donate Food to a Food Shelf)

For this week's 52 Weeks of Giving program that the girls are doing, they donated a bag of non-perishable food items to the food shelf.

Sophia and Olivia with a bag of food for the food shelf.

All the food collected at the local church is forwarded to either the Valley Outreach Food Shelf or Elim Lutheran Church.

Collection cart for the food shelf.

A food shelf is a place where hungry individuals and families can go to get extra food so they don’t have to skip meals. There are more than 300 food shelves in Minnesota. Every month the Valley Outreach Food Shelf gives more than 36,000 pounds of food to up to 400 families each month who reside within the Stillwater Area School District.

About 50% of the individuals served each month are children; 20% are elderly; 10% are physically or mentally challenged; and the rest are adults who are either employed – sometimes at more than one job – or unemployed and unable to find work as a result of the economic recession. Those who are employed typically work at low-wage position(s) with little or no employee benefits and are unable to make ends meet.

A thank you note was printed in the church newsletter.  It said, "Thank you to everyone who made a ... food donation during Minnesota Food Share Month in March.  Special thanks to those who gave during the local effort to break the world record for a one day food drive. 

"Although the record was not broken, over 80,000 pounds of food was collected.  Over half of which stayed locally to help fill the food shelves in Stillwater."