ECHO Food Shelf client Kimberly Hansen loves to cook and prefers to use fresh produce in her homemade dishes.
But the disabled Mankato woman’s grocery budget is limited and she has no space to grow her own food. What Hansen does have is lots of praise for the emergency pantry.
“I depend on it and the volunteers here are awesome,” she said while waiting in line outside ECHO’s building on South Front Street. “If you make a request for something, they will go out of their way to get it for you.”
“I’m glad I am able to give back to my community,” said volunteer Elli Fisher, a retired Centerpoint Energy employee.
Fisher said volunteering at the food shelf has helped her realize how many people there are in need of ECHO’s services.
“We have been seeing from 86 to 130 people a day,” said ECHO manager Deisy DeLeon Esqueda.
Hansen, who places regular orders with the emergency food shelf, is one more than 35 million Americans in households struggling against hunger, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Lately, dental issues have limited Hansen’s diet to soft foods, making cooked vegetables, such as boiled potatoes, typical meal courses. This harvest season, she’s seeing fewer local produce options on ECHO’s shelves.
“In past years, there was a lot of garden stuff,” Hansen said.
“We usually receive a lot of donated fruit and vegetables,” said Esqueda, who guessed flooding early this summer had an effect on the donation portions of local harvest yields.
“We do have fruits and vegetables on hand,” she stressed before explaining monetary donations are used to keep the food shelf stocked with high-demand food items.
“Our purpose is to provide basic needs … to make sure everyone has access to healthy food,” Esqueda added.
That mission was made a bit easier Wednesday afternoon when a truckload of bananas were delivered to the nonprofit’s parking lot. Staff and volunteers helped semi driver Langston Chavez, 25, of Cerritos, California, unload the dozens of large boxes filled with bunches of the fruit.
An interstate trucker for Leonard’s Express, Chavez had first hauled the produce to its original destination, a distribution center in Mankato.
“They said the bananas were too ripe; they were rejected,” he said.
“This feels really good,” is how Chavez described his first-time experience of offering a truckload of food to help others.
He then told of a different experience with a rejected load earlier in his two-year trucking career. The story was one he did not have the heart to tell his mother.
“I had to throw away frozen chicken. There’s four people in my family and there was enough meat there to feed us for a year.”
Esqueda said businesses like Chavez’s employer are eligible for a tax credit when they donate to a food shelf.
Unfortunately, on Monday ECHO staff also had found themselves with no choice but to reject a large donation of perishable food.
“We got a call asking if we could take a load of frozen biscuits, but we don’t have the space to store them,” Esqueda said.
ECHO is in the middle of a capital campaign to raise funds to purchase more refrigerators, freezers and to create space for dry-food storage. Esqueda said if the goal is achieved, her nonprofit will be able to accept more food donations, including fresher and healthier items.
Society has a tendency to brush off the importance of food availability, Esqueda said. “It’s a necessary building block for a healthy, thriving communities.”
Sara Diel, assistant manager of ECHO Food Shelf, said she fields regular inquiries from truckers with potential donations aboard their rigs. There’s a plan in place when large volumes of produce need to be distributed. One option is to share with other Mankato nonprofits.
Sometimes, the beneficiary is Simon Ministry at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on Broad Street. Parish Administrator Mike Logeais said his church’s program offers personal care items and cleaning products to disadvantaged individuals.
When ECHO passes along a food donation, it’s served by hospitality volunteers as free snacks for participants. Logeais said like the food shelf, Simon Ministry is serving more and more people.
“In 2018, we were serving 40 to 50 people. That number has steadily increased … We’re now seeing 70, 80, 90 a week.”
When asked if hunger was a solvable problem, Logeais declined to offer an opinion.
“I think it’s bigger than both you and me,” he said.
Though Simon Ministry is not a program focused on hunger relief, Logeais said he’s witnessed the great collaborations that exist in the Mankato community.
He’s been privy to homeless guests’ conversations about meal options in town.
“They don’t have a place where they can prepare food … so they follow a routine — there’s the Breakfast Church (Centenary) and The Sal (The Salvation Army) for lunch.”
“I take great pride in what we serve,” said Nora Henry, coordinator for the Holy Grounds Breakfast Program at Centenary.
Menu items for the free program range from scrambled eggs with breakfast meat, biscuits and gravy. Canned fruit and morning beverages are provided as well.
Henry said Holy Grounds tracks breakfasts provided, not the number of participants.
“We noticed a trend upward at the end of Labor Day weekend…we’ve been serving about 110-112 (meals) a day.”
“The food is really good and (this program) is a real help,” said Ron Peters, who was seated at a table of regulars finishing cups of hot brew.
Holy Grounds’ coffee is usually good, he said.
Henry responded with good humor.
“If I make it too strong, I get comments. If it’s too weak, I get complaints. I’d rather get comments.”
Charles Wacovelli was leaving Centenary for home when he stopped to offer his input on Holy Grounds. At the end of September 2023, he was living in a tent near the river when a radio announcement mentioned Holy Grounds.
“I was sitting in my van listening…. and I decided to check it out.”
Wacovelli said he quickly found out the breakfasts also provided a network of information about available services, including options for unhoused people.
“That’s how I found out about my place at Gus Johnson (apartments).”
Henry wishes otherwise but sees no immediate end to food insecurity and related issues.
“As long as society is structured the way it is, we are going to have lots of folks who society has passed by.
“The majority of people we served are not unhoused. They only have so much money and they have to make choices. Do they pay rent and utilities or buy food?” Henry said.
Minnesotans made 7.5 million visits to food shelves in 2023 — over 2 million more than in 2022. That’s a record high for the third consecutive year, according to Hunger Solutions Minnesota. The nonprofit collects and analyzes data to help tell whether hunger is getting better or worse in particular communities in the state.
Apparently since the pandemic, Minnesota food shelves have learned how to operate more efficiently and how to be more accessible to the populations they serve. Of 342 food shelves who applied for grants through Hunger Solutions, many are offering clients more visits to a site. Several food shelves are allowing unlimited visits.
Hunger Solutions also curates reports from anti-hunger partners throughout the nation.
State residents who’d already been vulnerable to food insecurity when COVID-19 hit the state in March 2020, benefited from pandemic-related relief efforts; however, many of those programs ended last year.
For the past year and a half, participants in the emergency SNAP program (formerly called the food stamp program) have been dealing with a budget decrease of about $100 per person.
Recent data shows the highest rates of increase of emergency pantries have been in rural counties.
Children in rural settings have less access to free food and that creates a ripple effect on entire families, communities and ultimately, the entire country, said Holly Dodge, communications coordinator for Feeding Our Community Partners, based in North Mankato.
FOCP’s programs provide free meals to youths on days when classes aren’t in session.
“Imagine what it must be like for a child to come home and not know for certain if there will be food there,” Dodge said.
Her nonprofit purchases food from vendors at a cost that’s risen by about $50 per student.
Recipient families are not asked for income verification. They may enroll on the nonprofit’s website at anytime.
“There’s no red tape,” Dodge said.
Participants represent 36 schools in six districts. FOCP is the umbrella organization for five programs: BackPack Food, Power Pack, Summer Pack, Summertime Outreach Meal and High School Pantry.
“We are seeing 100 more students enrolled than at this time last year,” Dodge said.
Dodge is thankful for Minnesota’s decision to continue its universal free meal program in schools.
“Parents and older siblings (in families experiencing food insecurity) tend to skip meals so that a younger child is provided for,” Dodge said.