Valley Outreach Seeks Help Serving St. Croix Valley Residents in Need

The Valley Outreach Food Shelf needs your help to fill empty plates this summer.

The food shelf, which serves residents in the , has an exciting opportunity to participate in the Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless Annual $100,000 Food Shelf Challenge Grant.

During the month of July, all monetary donations to the food shelf will generate grants for Valley Outreach to help end hunger in the St. Croix Valley. The more funds Valley Outreach raises in July, the larger the grant Open Your Heart will award.

Valley Outreach provides food and personal hygiene necessities to nearly 400 families each month.

With school age children not eligible for free and reduced school lunches during the summer months, families face a significant challenge to feed their kids.

“While hunger doesn’t recognize seasons, summer is especially hard on the families with school age children that use our food shelf,” said Cara McLain, Valley Outreach Food Shelf Director. “The Open You Heart Grant Challenge is a wonderful opportunity for us to raise additional dollars, which we use to purchase food for our clients. For each dollar donated, we can purchase $10 worth of food.”

Donations can be made to Valley Outreach online, mailed to Valley Outreach, 1911 Curve Crest Blvd. West, Stillwater, or dropped off at the food shelf.

Donation hours are 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 5–8 p.m. Monday and Thursday.

Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless believes this approach to hunger alleviation is effective because it brings communities together to solve a growing concern across Minnesota.

The $100,000 Challenge will power a statewide initiative that leverages Open Your Heart funding to bring additional dollars to food shelves and increase awareness of child hunger during the summer.

For 25 years, Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless has targeted millions of dollars to strategically fight hunger in Minnesota. Open Your Heart funds the purchase and transfer of more than one million pounds of fresh produce, meat and dairy products every year through Hunger Solutions Minnesota.