March is Minnesota FoodShare Month, a time when the donations you make to our local food shelves pack an even more powerful punch than usual in the fight against hunger. It’s a great time to give!

The month of March has typically been a rather lean one for Minnesota food shelves. So, Minnesota FoodShare, an interfaith collaboration fighting hunger, created Minnesota FoodShare Month. The group gathers donations from corporations to use as incentive funds for Minnesota food shelves. The food and donations we collect, the more incentive funds we receive - the more hungy families we can feed.

In 2012, Catholic Charities Emergency Services, the St. Cloud area’s largest food shelf, collected over 200,000 lbs of food and received $21,000. That may not sound like much of a reward, but since most food shelves have the ability to purchase 4 to 9 times as much as the average consumer at the grocery store, that’s $88,000 - $189,000 in food to feed the hungry in the St. Cloud area.

You can help by collecting donations, and by telling everyone you know about Minnesota FoodShare Month.

What you can do

Donate now - either online or via mail (be sure to designate the funds to Emergency Services.)

You can also conduct a food drive at your school, church or place of employment. Use the tool kits items at right to help! Feel free to duplicate or copy anything that will help you gather more to feed more.

Pack the Porch!

Pioneer Place on Fifth and St. Cloud Hyundai have graciously offered to do a community-wide food drive to benefit Catholic Charities Emergency Services on March 22 from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Their goal is to fill their Veranda Porch with food! You can drop off food from your food drive or just a few dollars from your pocket. Everyone will be treated to a hot cup of coffee for their efforts.

Pack the Porch Flier (PDF)

Pack the Porck Flier (JPG)