Everyone Deserves Fresh Produce

During the year, so many Minnesotan families find themselves unable to meet all their expenses. They may need to go to a food shelf to meet their dietary needs. Sometimes the selection of food can be limited to shelf stable products of modest dietary needs

This past weekend, John and I got to do good while spending time at our favorite place. Near the end of the St. Paul Farmer's Market, we joined a small team of volunteers to collect donated produce and items from the vendors for a local food shelf. We had a blast. People were very generous, giving many of their expert products. We collected almost 1,000 pounds of healthy produce. We didn't collect more, only because our van was full. Then we carted the items over to the Neighborhood House food shelf.

The Neighborhood House in St. Paul does amazing work serving the community. Among its many services are its food shelf. It operates the largest single site food shelf in Ramsey County. In 2009, the Neighborhood House Food Shelf served over 38,000 people about half of them children and distributed over 620,000 pounds of food.

I am so proud that this food shelf will be providing its patrons with lots of fresh produce options and organic products donated by the generous farmer's market vendors! I hope this will allow those who have come across hard times provide healthy food for their families and keep dignity in their hears.