Stories HopeFall 2011

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• Little school, big effort• Give to the Max Day• Hunger Action Month a success• Local farms provide national helpIN

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What could be better than winning American Idol, meeting Adrian Peterson or getting a new puppy? Winning the Wilshire Park Elementary school Food & Fund Drive, that’s what!

Two years ago, Julie Pierce, the current President of the Wilshire Park Parents Association (WPPA), searched for a way that the school could collectively give back to the community. She wanted it to be a selfless giving project. Julie found Second Harvest Heartland and signed the school up for a Food & Fund Drive, which took the form of a week-long friendly competition between classrooms to see who could raise the most food & funds.

With slightly more than 700 students at the elementary school, Julie figured the drive would be relatively small. “I thought we would be lucky to collect 500 pounds of food,” she said. But she was way off. “I was blown away when I found out that we collected 2,300 pounds in the first year of our drive.” In fact, last year’s drive brought in 2,747 pounds of food and collected $687 for our neighbors in need.

While this may seem like an ordinary school drive, the prize is what makes it special. “We didn’t want to give the children food or toys, instead, we wanted a feel-good reward,” said Julie. The WPPA decided that the winning classroom would get to help load the donated food items on to Second Harvest Heartland’s truck. “The kids just love it. The classroom that won the 2009 drive expressed that winning this competition was better than ‘winning the Super Bowl, American Idol, getting a new puppy, winning the lottery, getting a new baby brother or sister or having a snow day.’ They just had such a great time.” she told us.

Of course, the most important parts of the drive are the food and funds collected for those in need. “We take time to explain to the students that there are people out there who literally won’t have dinner on their table tonight,” Julie said. “They are aware of what they are doing and are so proud that they are helping someone else. We’re teaching them life skills.”

To add more of a learning experience to the drive, the school staff gives a “food bank math problem” to the students. For example: “If $1 equals four meals and each Second Harvest Heartland Food & Fund Drive box holds approximately 60 meals, how many dollars does this translate to?” This is just another way the kids are able to recognize how many people benefit from the drive and from their help.

Though she has a daughter who attends the school and Julie herself participates in WPPA, she doesn’t interact with the students as much as the teachers do. Still, the kids recognize Julie in the hall and excitedly tell her that they brought in cans of food. “This drive is really my feel good moment. The kids are excited and it is important to do things for others. This fundraiser isn’t for the school. Instead, it is for the greater good and that makes it extra special.”

I hope that this newsletter finds you and yours in happy, holiday spirits. For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time of celebration of plenty, centered around a sumptuous meal. But as you know, for so many families, the holidays can put extra strain on already tight budgets.

As a part of the Second Harvest Heartland team, I’m blessed every day to experience our neighbors sharing their abundance with members of our community who are struggling. I want to share with you a story about a man named Carl—a father whose family endured some difficulties that left them in need of help putting food on the table. If you haven’t already heard Carl’s story, I hope you’ll read on.

Carl works as a route driver for a national food company. He and his wife were able to support themselves and their two children and even buy a home when they

both had jobs. All of that changed when his wife suffered a medical issue that left her legally blind. As the medical bills, mortgage and other expenses piled up, they quickly exhausted their savings and retirement accounts.

Carl puts in more than 12 hours a day, five days a week at a job he’s held for years, but still can’t afford to feed his family. Like many parents who are struggling with expenses, he found himself cutting back on his own meals to make sure that his children had enough food. The situation reached a critical point recently. “Our cupboards were empty, the kids were asking for something to eat, and I didn’t know what to do,” Carl said.

But thanks to the generous support of people like you, Carl was able to find help. After visiting our website, Carl connected with a Second Harvest Heartland staff

member who gave him a list of resources who could help.

And while Carl explains that walking into the food shelf for the first time was the toughest thing he’s ever had to do, he can relish in a little more joy this holiday season, knowing he is able to provide for his family. “Now I know that the kids will have food, and I don’t have to skip meals anymore. That’s a big relief.”

“I’ve been so amazed by how nice they are,” Carl said of the food shelf staff members. “Very understanding, not judgmental at all.”

Carl is just one of thousands of our friends and neighbors who are helped every day by your support. Thank you for all you do, and happy holidays.

-Rob Zeaske

Fall 2011 32 Fall 2011

A LITTLE SCHOOL DOING A LOT OF GOODThe Mission Beyond the Mission

A message from our Executive Director

The Mission Beyond the Mission

A message from our Executive Director

Your support helps make holidays happy

The WPPA Food & Fund Drive collected 2,747 pounds of food.

The WPPA Food & Fund Drive took the form of a week-long friendly competition between classrooms.

Food &

d DriveIt’s serious fun.

Our winter and summer issues are now online exclusives! In an effort to reduce costs and put more of your generous gifts toward helping those in need, two issues per year are only available online. To ensure that you don’t miss out on all of our Stories of Hope, visit 2harvest.org/enews and sign up to receive these issues via email. The spring and fall Stories of Hope will continue to arrive in your mailbox.

Get your Stories of Hope

online!

You can help.

Together we are transforming hunger relief. Mark your calendar with these events. Go to 2harvest.org/events for more details.

IBEW Holiday Lights in the Park Daily, November 22 - January 1 • Phalen ParkSt. Paul’s Phalen Park is transformed into a fantasy of lights and color! Proceeds benefit Second Harvest Heartland, Union Gospel Mission, UnderConstruction and St. Paul Parks Conservancy.For times and prices, visit lightsinthepark.org.

Let’s Kick Hunger DayJanuary 6 • WCCO Radio & Taste of the NFLJoin the fight against hunger as WCCO Radio and Taste of the NFL raise funds for Second Harvest Heartland and food banks in NFL cities across the country.For more information, visit 2harvest.org/kickhungerday.

Vintner Ball February 25 • Westin Edina GalleriaAll proceeds from this world-class charitable wine tasting event benefit Second Harvest Heartland. To learn more, visit vintnerball.com.

Dish: Cuisine for ChangeApril 19 • Saint Paul RiverCentre Dish is an elegant evening of fine food, exciting auction items, wine tasting and fabulous entertainment, all benefiting Second Harvest Heartland.Find out how you can get involved at dishcuisineforchange.org.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING ACTION THIS SEPTEMBER!Second Harvest Heartland can’t thank everyone enough for supporting Hunger Action Month in Minnesota! While the in-store totals are still rolling in, we’ve already surpassed our goal of raising enough food and funds to provide more than one million meals to hungry kids, families and seniors in our communities.

This tremendous result would not have been achievable without your help, and the support of our wonderful campaign partners. We thank you sincerely for your generosity.

When you give a little, you feed a lot.

Easy To Donate. Donate $1 at this checkout.

September is Hunger Action Month.

Easy To Donate. Donate $1 at this checkout.

September is Hunger Action Month.

Nearly $210 million in available food assistance benefits go unclaimed.

The Meals for Minds program provided 3,374 meals for children and their families.

We’re committed to ensuring that every one of our neighbors has access to food in their time of need.

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Second Harvest Heartland has always been, at our core, a food bank—an efficient operational engine that delivers vast amounts of food quickly and systemically to 1,000 member food shelves, soup kitchens and other programs throughout our service area. It’s that efficiency that allows us to distribute the equivalent of 18 meals for every $5 you contribute; to collect fresh, nutritious foods from retailers and get it to the homes of the hungry within 24-48 hours; and to ensure there’s food at the local food shelf when any parent, child or older adult needs to reach out for help.

But it also enables us to do more innovative work—to focus on ending hunger rather than simply fighting it. Over the past couple of years, we’ve gradually moved beyond the role of a traditional food bank into that of a

true hunger relief organization working to address the meal gap at every level.

As we learned from our Missing Meals study conducted in 2008, the emergency food system—of which the food bank is a part—only accounts for about 5% of the meals consumed by those in need. We’re committed to ensuring that every one of our neighbors has access to food in their time of need, and we know that the food bank and our network members alone can’t accomplish that goal.

You’ve likely read a bit about these programs in other newsletters, but we wanted to take this opportunity to present some of our “beyond the food bank” initiatives—projects that aim to leverage all existing resources to get more meals to more people.

SNAP OUTREACHBreaking down barriers to accessDemand for emergency food assistance has increased significantly as families have been pummeled by the recession and high unemployment. Millions of people throughout the nation are forced to accept reduced wages while gas prices are up and food prices soar. In the end, struggling families are finding it harder than ever to make ends meet.

Yet more than one in three people who qualify for SNAP (Food Support or Food Stamps) leave their benefits on the table—literally. That’s the equivalent of nearly $210 million of already-funded food and financial assistance unclaimed. We’re dedicated to ensuring each of our neighbors has access to the meals they need, and with so much resource readily available, it’s crucial that we work to ensure this resource is utilized.

Second Harvest Heartland’s SNAP Outreach Specialists visit food shelves, soup kitchens, and other organizations and events to help people understand the program, and to break down barriers to participation—from lack of awareness to difficult application processes or other complications.

MEALS FOR MINDSFood for families, so kids can succeed at school…and in lifeSchool pantries—mobile, monthly, pop-up food shelf models embedded in schools—provide an emerging model for reaching children with food assistance in a novel way. Each month, a group of volunteers gathers in a Twin Cities-area school to sort, package and display groups of food items—proteins, produce, bakery and more—so that students and their families can visit the pantry and “shop” for supplemental food.

Thanks to a grant from Target and through partnerships with local schools, the Meals for Minds program provided 3,374 children and their families with much-needed groceries at four pilot low-income-area schools in the 2010-2011 academic year, and has expanded to eight schools with seven distribution sites for the 2011-2012 school year.

HUNGER-FREE MINNESOTAFighting hunger where you liveHunger-Free Minnesota is a collaborative movement to end hunger in our communities, initiated by a coalition of Minnesota hunger relief organizations—including Second Harvest Heartland—united under the common belief that food is a basic and essential human right. The Hunger-Free Minnesota campaign has created a data-driven action plan comprising 22 initiatives that will close the 100 million missing meals gap, annually and sustainably, by 2015.

The Hunger-Free Minnesota campaign focuses its efforts in three key areas:

• Increasing emergency food assistance by 50 million meals annually

• Increasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 30 million meals annually

• Increasing use of child public nutrition programs to add 20 million meals annually

Second Harvest Heartland is a proud founding member of Hunger-Free Minnesota. If you haven’t already, dig in at hungerfreemn.org and join the movement. Together, we can ensure every one of our neighbors has access to the meals they need to live healthy, happy and productive lives.

FROM HARVEST TO HOME Capturing the heartland’s 200 million pounds of hopeIn Minnesota alone, the equivalent of more than 150 million meals in the form of corn, potatoes, watermelon, peppers and other nutritious foods are either plowed under or unsold by hardworking farmers. But through collaboration, we’re reducing waste, better utilizing resources available in our land of plenty and ultimately bringing more food to those in our community who are hungry.

From Harvest to Home connects Minnesota farmers with regional hunger relief organizations—anchored by Second Harvest Heartland—to get fresh produce from the farm to those in need. While still in its infancy, the program has already collected 14 trucks full of sweet corn, more than 1 million pounds of potatoes and a mixed truck full of watermelon, green peppers and sweet corn.

FOOD RESCUERetailers are no longer throwing away their chance to help Each week, Second Harvest Heartland’s Food Rescue drivers and partner agencies collect a variety of nutritious foods, including produce, dairy, meat, bakery and other items from 275 generous retail stores. These products are made available to meal programs and food shelves throughout our service area—often within 24 hours of collection. Food Rescue is Second Harvest Heartland’s fastest growing source of food, providing more than 18 million pounds of healthy food to communities in need this past fiscal year—a 55% increase over fiscal year 2010.

Food Rescue is our fastest growing source of food.

Hunger-Free MN believes that food is a basic and essential human right.

On behalf of Second Harvest Heartland and those we serve, thank you so much for your generosity and enthusiasm during this year’s Give to the Max Day. Through the incredible support of thousands of people, the hungry families, children and seniors in our community will have food when they need it most.

We extend a sincere thanks to the Mosaic Company for matching funds throughout the day, allowing us to provide even more food to more

people. And a special thanks to the individual donors who generously contributed to the day so that we were able to increase the match.

On this one day of giving, the community came together to not only provide more food for our hungry neighbors, but to help change their lives for the better. We can’t thank you enough.

THANK YOU FOR A MAXIMUM EFFORT

GUS MENTH: Driver

As he makes his numerous deliveries throughout the Twin Cities every day, Gus Menth sees that there are a lot of people who rely on him for the food they need.

When Gus started his tenure with Second Harvest Heartland in 2005 as an order picker, he helped coordinate and prepare food orders that were distributed to our agencies, such as a food shelves, soup kitchens and community centers. When the position of trucker driver opened, Gus applied and was offered the job shortly thereafter. “I love it because I am out and about all day long. I couldn’t handle an office job. I like to be outside and interacting with people,” he said.

Since Gus started as a driver five years ago, the number of pounds distributed from our warehouse has doubled. In the 2011 fiscal year, Second Harvest Heartland distributed 70 million pounds of food—an increase of 11 million pounds from 2010. Quickly and efficiently getting the food from our warehouse to those in need keeps our drivers extremely busy. “On a typical day, I might have about 35 pallets of food that I need to deliver, but the average truck only holds 13 pallets. I have to make sure that I allot time to get back to the warehouse to get more food so that it can get

to the agencies that need it,” Gus said. “It’s incredible to see the increase in poundage, and the support we receive so that we can get the food to those who need it.”

A typical day for Gus starts around 6:00 a.m. He organizes the food, loads it up on his truck and hits the road. While in the field, his delivery stops might include a shelter for abused women and children or a church that serves dinner to the homeless at night. “You never know what you might encounter from day to day, but what I do know is that I am helping people. I get to go home at night and feel good about what I do and know that I have made an impact,” Gus told us. Just in case Gus sees kids at one of his stops, he keeps a bag of candy bars in his truck to give to them. “It’s the little things for those in need that make a difference,” he said.

Though the number of pounds of food delivered continues to increase, Gus focuses on what is most important. “My job is so much more than delivering food. It’s about helping people, and that’s what matters.”

Voices of HungerTHE FRONT LINES OF HUNGER RELIEF

There is nothing better during a Minnesota summer than the taste of fresh sweet corn. And while many of us are fortunate enough to regularly enjoy the delicious treat, there are thousands of others who may not have enjoyed a single kernel this year. That is, if it weren’t for Mark and Gary.

Tony Mans, Second Harvest Heartland’s Director of Food Sourcing, received a call one afternoon as he was on his way to a meeting. On the phone was Mark

Chmielewski, owner of Stoney Brook Farms in Foley, Minnesota, who said he had a truckload of extra sweet corn he wanted to share with Second Harvest Heartland.

Later that evening, as he was about to leave for his son’s baseball game, Tony received another call, this time from Gary Pahl, owner of Pahl Farms in Apple Valley, Minnesota. It turned out Mark had gotten in touch with Gary about the opportunity to share extra corn with Second Harvest Heartland. A few minutes later. Mark called again, saying he had two more truckloads. “Within hours, I had five truckloads of corn available, and I had to quickly figure out what to do with it all,” Tony said. The very next morning, Tony sent trucks to pick up the corn and through the Feeding America food bank network, Tony was able to help distribute it to food banks throughout Minnesota as well as other states, such as Florida. The quick action of everyone ensured that this bountiful harvest would go to good use before it went bad.

“It was one of my last loads of corn and though I wasn’t able to distribute it for wholesale, I knew the corn inside the husk was still perfectly edible and I would’ve hated to see it go to waste,” Mark told us. But it didn’t

go to waste. Instead, it went to hundreds of thousands of families in need. “I was just amazed at the quantity of corn that we were able to move. I didn’t realize the large network Second Harvest Heartland had. I called and got the load ready to go and the truck was already waiting to be filled with corn,” Mark said.

Second Harvest Heartland has always partnered with farmers and through the years we’ve received many generous donations of potatoes. But in an effort to provide more farm-fresh food to our neighbors in need, Tony and his team have been developing more relationships with farmers across the state. And this most recent donation did just that—delivered more fresh food to more people.

In a typical year, Second Harvest Heartland receives about five pallets of sweet corn, but this year that number grew to about a half million pounds of this farm-fresh product. “When you put all of your hard work and labor into something, you don’t want to see it go unused, especially when the need for food has risen so much in the past few years,” says Gary.

While the need for fresh food does continue to increase, one thing is for sure: Thanks to Gary and Mark, families in Minnesota and across the United States were able to enjoy healthy and delicious sweet corn this summer. “Anything we can do to help people in need is a blessing,” said Gary.

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AN EXTRA EFFORT FOR OUR HUNGRY NEIGHBORS

From farms in Minnesota to those in need all over the country

“ It’s the little things for those in need that make a difference.”

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YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED NOW, MORE THAN EVER

‘‘

‘‘Like Carl, no one ever thinks that they will have to rely on a food bank or food shelf to provide a Thanksgiving meal for their families. Please share what you can to help us keep our neighbors hunger free this holiday season. Just a $10 contribution will allow us to provide a meal-a-day for more than a month for a parent, child or senior in need.

To donate, use the handy attached envelope or visit us online at 2harvest.org/support.

Nonprofit Organization

US Postage Paid Second Harvest

Heartland

Cause and EffectsYou supported the cause. Here is the change you’ve effected.

1140 GERVAIS AVE., ST. PAUL, MN 55109-2020

8 Fall 2011

2009 2010 2011

Second Harvest HeartlandPhone: 651.484.5117 Toll Free: 888.339.3663 Fax: 651.484.1064

2harvest.org

Contact Info

®

1.2 mil

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SFSP is funded in part due to funds generated at Taste of the Vikings.

Thanks to the Minnesota Vikings for organizing this annual gala that does so much good for so many people!

Summer Food Service ProgramThe Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is a partnership between the Minnesota Vikings, Target, ConAgra, Carlson Companies and Second Harvest Heartland that helps provide grant-supported meals to children throughout the summer. Thanks to you, we helped provide more than 1 million grant-supported meals in 2011.