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Volunteers with the Rock County Food Shelf are raising money to remodel a former Luverne dental office into a new home for their operations.
So far, they’ve raised $60,000, and they’re asking local officials and the public for help to reach their $225,000 goal.
Board chairman Pastor Roger Sparks and board member Katie Baustian presented the information about the campaign at the Rock County Board’s Feb. 2 meeting.
They outlined the food shelf’s local impact and asked commissioners for additional financial support of $20,000 over a five-year period.
Late last year, commissioners approved allocating $25,000 in coronavirus relief funds to the food shelf.
Commissioners finalized their 2021 budget in December and tabled any decisions on the capital campaign request to a later meeting.
“This is a very strange thing to be doing as a board — to ask for assistance — we don’t have to do that,” Sparks said. “We spend a lot of time thanking people for giving to the ministry and for supporting it.”
However, six months ago, the city of Luverne purchased the former dental office on Maple Street, which presented an opportunity for the food shelf to move distribution and storage operations to its own separate location.
Improved parking, more storage space and a larger distribution area will allow the group to purchase and distribution perishable items currently available from its supplier, Second Harvest Food Bank.
For more than two decades, volunteers have worked out of two rooms in the basement of the United Methodist Church in Luverne.
Due to limited space, the food shelf distributes only non-perishable items from the church. Paper vouchers are provided for perishable items at Sunshine Foods in Luverne.
“We have been able to serve a lot of people at that location,” Sparks said. “The challenge is to raise the funds to … make the building serviceable, functional and a real blessing, not only to the volunteers, but to the many people who come to receive assistance.”
City officials agreed to lease the building to the food shelf for $1 a year and challenged the group to raise $225,000 to complete improvements.
These include new doors and windows, shelving, a bathroom, commercial refrigerators and freezers, insulated walls and a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning unit.
The larger building means more items for clients.
“We will be able to better serve our clients with this building, because we will have to ability (to store items) with freezers and refrigerators ” Baustian said.
40 tons of food distributed locally in 2020
The Rock County Food Shelf served 4,249 children and adults last year.
People are encouraged to seek help from the food shelf only once a month, but in some instances a second visit is granted, due to food insecurity within local households.
Distribution occurs each Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. The third Thursday of each month the food shelf is open from 5 to 6 p.m.
An average of 30 households request food shelf assistance each week.
“Pre-COVID, my largest day was 32 families, and we very rarely saw that,” Baustian said. “We are seeing that weekly now with different families. We are seeing a lot of people that are working but just cannot make it.”
Food insecurity occurs when meals are skipped or consumption of inexpensive, less nutritious food takes place because monthly budgets have become stretched too thin.
The age group of 18 to 64 use the food shelf the most.
However, more recently, the age group has been shifting.
“We do see a lot of different age groups, maybe seeing a little more of the elderly than we have seen in the past, and I am glad they come,” Baustian said.
Volunteers estimated more than 79,000 pounds (40 tons) of food were distributed in Rock County.
Of that amount, 23 tons (45,000 pounds) were distributed through the food shelf basement distribution site with the rest by vouchers. Vouchers cost the food shelf an average of $3,500 a month.
The new building, complete with refrigeration, will allow the food shelf to store perishable items, such as free milk from Second Harvest Food Bank, where some perishable items can be purchased in bulk, provided the food shelf has access to refrigeration.
“We will be able to serve our clients better with this building because we’ll have that ability with freezers and refrigerators,” Baustian said.
The new facility on Maple Street is 2,000 square feet and is all on one level.
The basement facility required elevator access.
According to the food shelf’s reports to the state, Luverne addresses top the list for usage, followed by Magnolia, Hills, Beaver Creek, Hardwick, Steen, Kanaranzi and Kenneth. The food shelf has asked city councils in those communities to commit $5,000 each to set up the new food shelf.
Increased food shelf usage is statewide trend
Second Harvest Heartland recently released its 2020 annual report. One in nine Minnesotans, including one in six children, is facing hunger.
“Over the past 12 years, we have made slow but steady progress in reducing Minnesota’s food insecurity rate, reaching a decade-low in recent years,” the report stated.
“COVID-19 has undone this progress, with a record number of people now experiencing hunger in the heartland.”
Projections suggest the increase in hunger persisting at least through 2021.
The Rock County Food Shelf began in 1983 through the Rock County Ministerial Association.
A single cupboard at Grace Lutheran Church in Luverne provided families with an emergency three-day supply of food.
In 1989 the food shelf expanded to two basement Sunday school rooms at United Methodist Church.
“Our guess is the need for our food shelf in Rock County will not disappear,” Sparks said. “We’ve been serving the community for many, many years already. With uncertain economic times, the demand has gone up and down throughout the years. Last year was certainly a busy year for the food shelf.”
In addition to Sparks and Baustian, other food shelf board members include directors Mary Gehrke, Tammy Loosbrock, Mary Lou Mulligan, John Oksness and Lynette Hoiland.
One-time pledges accepted at LACF
As a nonprofit organization, donations to the Rock County Food Shelf are tax-deductible.
Funds are held at the Luverne Area Community Foundation. One-time donations or pledges over a five-year period can be made to LACF, P.O. Box 623, Luverne, MN 56156.