Local Video
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| Pressville: CAC, grocers team up to feed hungry |
By: EMILY HARTLEY, Special to the News
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Posted: Friday, October 23, 2009 10:53 pm
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Editor’s Note: Emily Hartley is a Carleton College student journalist whose work, reprinted here, was first published on Pressville.org, an online newspaper the class created.
NORTHFIELD — Econofoods and Cub Foods have long supplied groceries for Northfield community shoppers, but beginning last March, the stores took their roles a step further.
In a collaborative program with the Northfield Community Action Center Food Shelf, the stores raised money to provide food to hungry people throughout the community.
Econofoods stopped the service in early summer but reinstated it earlier this month.
“I thought it was a good time to put it back out,” Econofoods store manager Carl Nass said. “I know they have a huge ongoing need for it.”
Judy Bickel, director of programs at the CAC, works with the grocery stores to administer the program.
“We are very thankful that Econofoods and Cub Foods are willing to work with us to help feed families in need,” she said via e-mail. “The donations we receive from both stores help make it possible to offer an array of nutritious food items, and I don’t know what we would do without those donations.”
Brown bags
At Econofoods, a table of brown paper grocery bags sits in a high-traffic area near the back of the store. The bags are priced from $5 to $10 and are filled with products ranging from peanut butter to vegetables.
Customers purchase the bags and take them to the customer service desk. The $10 bags contain $12.26 worth of food, with Econofoods donating the difference to the CAC.
The store then keeps a running total of donations, compiling an account for use by the CAC.
“It’s really inconvenient to drop off 30 bags every week,” Nass said, so instead, Bickel fills orders with money from the account based on the food shelf’s need. “She just calls and says ‘I need anything from pinto beans …’ This week it was an order of spaghetti noodles they needed filled.”
During the first run of the program, a stretch of about three and a half months, Econofoods and its customers raised $1,814 for the food shelf.
It adds up
“It’s an easy way for the customer to get involved,” Nass said. “They put in five or 10 dollars, and we put in a few. As you can see, it really adds up. It stretches out into a whole lot of stuff.”
Last year, the food shelf distributed 357,250 pounds of food to about 1,300 individuals, and Bickel said they “expect to greatly surpass that amount this year.”
“The need at the food shelf is at an all-time high, which obviously is due to the current economical condition,” she said. “Many people have lost their jobs or have had their hours or benefits significantly cut.”
In addition to selling the pre-packed grocery bags, both Econofoods and Cub Foods also donate day-old bread “to help Food Shelf participants stretch their budgets,” Bickel said.
“As you can imagine, it takes a lot of effort to have enough food to help everyone that needs it,” Bickel said. “Thankfully the Northfield community is very generous, and the CAC and food shelf recipients are very appreciative of all the donations we receive.”
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