The largest grassroots food and fund-raising drive in the state, the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign brings together various community organizations, businesses, and faith communities to help stock nearly 300 food shelves statewide. The need is greater than ever this year.
During the March campaign, Seward Co-op shoppers will have the option to add an individual or family food-shelf donation to their cart. Look for displays in our stores with the option to add $6 (enough to feed an individual for a day) or $21 (enough to feed a family of four for a day)* to your grocery bill. One hundred percent of these donations will go directly to food pantries in our immediate neighborhoods near the Franklin and Friendship stores.
*These numbers are based on food plan estimates provided by the USDA.
If you would rather donate food items directly, we will still have our year-round food-donation box, the contents of which goes to the Aliveness Project.
As always, customers also have the option to round up their purchase totals for our SEED program recipients year-round. In January, Seward Co-op matched an additional $1,000 benefitting Isuroon’s food shelf for a grand total of $13,401.
SCC was founded by members of the community in 1966 with a goal to provide people of all ages and cultures with essential resources that inspire them to improve their lives and build a thriving community. In 1975, SCC established a food shelf. Today, they run one of the largest food shelves in South Minneapolis. In 2019, they provided food to over 160 people a day and served more than 40,000 people.
Operated out of the basement of Bethany Lutheran Church, Soup for You Café provides free, healthy, organic meals to all members of our community, Monday through Friday. They work to build community one bowl at a time. Since the onset of the pandemic the volunteers and staff at Soup for You Café have not skipped a beat to ensure that all community members were fed and nourished. They have since adapted and started distributing bag lunches. They also operate a food, clothing and hygiene drive throughout the week.
The Aliveness Project is a community center in South Minneapolis that links people living with HIV to resources for leading healthy, self-directed lives. In addition to the several health and wellness services, The Aliveness Project offers meals and a food shelf. More information about the food shelf can be found here.
Food insecurity hit new records in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 3.8 Million visits were made to food shelves during 2020.
More than 400,000 Minnesotans receive nutrition benefits via SNAP each month. 71% of those served by SNAP are children, seniors and people with disabilities.
During the 2020 March Campaign, more than $21.5 million dollars and over 7.4 million pounds of food shelf items were raised by Minnesota food shelves.
