It takes a community to support a food shelf

Article and photo by JAN WILLMS

It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a community to support a food shelf.

George Gallagher, the manager-director of the Minnehaha Food Shelf, located within the Minnehaha United Methodist Church at 3701 E. 50th St.., can attest to that.

Whether it is the Riverview Theater donating 2500 pounds of food and as much as $2,000 from its expo of Christmas classics, or the Cub Scout Drive and the Postal Service drive collecting food items, or Fat Lorenzo’s donating the pasta for the annual pasta dinner fundraiser, Gallagher said the Minnehaha Food Shelf benefits greatly from community assistance.

He cited the Oxendale Market, Bergan’s Supervalu and the Nokomis Lions as being other benefactors.

Photo left: George Gallagher, manager-director of the Minnehaha Food Shelf

“We also just had a beer tasting at Falls Liquor Store,” Gallagher said. “We raised over $700.”

Gallagher also had high praise for the food shelf volunteers. “I am the only paid staff member, but about 32 dedicated volunteers help out,” he noted. “We have about eight vets who volunteer, and they love it here. We have some elderly ladies volunteer, and they love it here. I tell them all the time I am proud to be in the same building as them.”

Although Gallagher has been in his position for five years, the food shelf has been operating for the past nine. He gravitated toward this job because he had been a grocer most of his working life.

“I love it,” he acknowledged. “I’ve been on the board of directors for Second Harvest for several years and worked many years with the Emergency Food Shelf Network, which is now called the Food Group. And I worked 40 years for the Country Club Markets.”

Gallagher said that Second Harvest is 85 percent of the backbone of the food shelf. Although fundraisers provide for 10 percent of the food shelf needs, he said area churches provide for a lot of the funding.

“Right now we’re in a lean time of the year,” Gallagher stated. “When we go into Christmas and Thanksgiving, those periods kick off the giving season. I like to maintain a three to four-month operating reserve in our account, and we are down to one month, so we’re in a tough position right now.”

He maintained that donations do increase over the holidays, and that usually keeps the food shelf in good standing until around March or April. When school lets out, he said the need goes up because kids are at home and costs go up for the household.

Gallagher said he has to provide a monthly plan to Second Harvest to qualify for TEFAP, the federal emergency food assistance program.

“Last month we served 667 people,” he said. “That included 195 children and 80 seniors. We also served 40 vets.” He said the numbers of veterans using the food shelf has grown, with new housing that has just opened up by the airport.

“We have boundaries for the Minnehaha Food Shelf,” Gallagher continued. He said that the Mississippi River is the eastern border; Lake Street is on the north; Cedar Avenue is on the west and the airport on the south.

“Our clients have to provide a permanent address when they register here,” Gallagher added. He said they are allowed one visit a month, and they have to resubmit applications every June.

Minnehaha Food Shelf is open every Tuesday from 10:30am to 3pm. “If someone has just moved in and does not yet have the proper ID, we give them some groceries on a one-time basis. No one ever leaves here without food.”

“The number of people in the families determines how much food they get,” he said.

“Right now we are fortunate that we are in the midst of a grant,” Gallagher noted. It is a grant for milk provided by the Minnesota State Legislature. “It saves us a good amount of money and provides a good level of protein for clients,” he said.

Gallagher said the food shelf is looking for a grant writer. It has received grants from Minnesota Hunger Solutions and Minnesota Food Share and has an application in for a grant from Affair of the Heart. “It’s difficult to get grants, though,” Gallagher said.

He said that since he has started there has been about a 25-30 percent increase in the number of clients. As well as vets, another group that has grown is children.

The average age of the families applying is getting younger, according to Gallagher. He said medical bills and inadequate insurance count for a lot of the increase in clients.

“In Minnesota, the average number of times a family visits the food shelf is 4.5 times per year,” Gallagher said. “Most food shelf clients have jobs; they just can’t afford to maintain things.”

He said a lot of really wonderful people visit the food shelf. He told of one family that came for help because the husband had been hurt on the job, and Workman’s Comp had not yet started. Once the family was on its feet, the husband donated $200 to the food shelf. “He wanted to pay us back for helping him,” Gallagher said.