Big goal for growing need

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inflation that followed, hunger looks different in Steele County.

Maggie Teele sees the face of it at least twice a week, when she works the front desk at Community Pathways. An Owatonna resident for four years, she started volunteering to meet people and get involved in her new community.

“I check people in, greet them, let them know they’re welcome, and we appreciate them coming in,” she said. “They tell you their stories.”

Those stories have changed dramatically over the past three years, Teele said. So many more county residents need help.

“People come in who never had to come before,” she said.

Community Pathways is still seeing the people for whom hunger is a much bigger and more constant battle. But a new group is pushing the organization’s food budget to the limit.

According to executive director Dom Korbel, the average number of weekly shoppers has grown from 254 in 2021 to 567 in the rolling six-week average he’s tracking this year.

“I think a large portion is due to how many people were riding the edge of need help and were pushed over in the last 18 months,” he said. “We are seeing so many more people that need us because of one thing.”

That could be an unexpected car repair blowing up someone’s monthly budget. Around the time school starts, families come in because school supplies take a big bite out of their budgets.

One couple, in their early 60s, came in after learning the wife needed a critical surgery and what their share of the cost would be.

“The husband said, ‘I’ve got a plan, I’m taking extra shifts at work. If we can lower our food costs, she can have that surgery.’,” Korbel said.

The increased need coupled with rising food costs has him looking at a big goal for this year’s Minnesota FoodShare Month. The campaign was founded more than 40 years ago, when advocates for food shelves realized that donations were dropping off significantly after the holidays and designated March as FoodShare Month.

Organizations across the state participate; local food shelves use the Minnesota FoodShare marketing arm to boost their efforts.

“It gave us this rallying point to raise funds,” Korbel said. “The goal locally is a huge push for donations and food.”

“Huge” this year amounts to $170,000 and 70,000 pounds of food, up from $142,000 and 62,000 last year. Along with individual donations, this month is when the Hometown Sampler happens every year, raising funds and collecting food during weekend concerts featuring five local bands.

Held last weekend, the event was a key part of the March effort with a target that amounts to about 20% of the overall March goal. Korbel is also out speaking to any group that will have him, and local businesses, organizations, churches, and even schools are getting into the game with collection events.

“I’ve got food drives going on across the community I don’t even know about,” Korbel said with a broad smile. “There’s so many things going on. People just step up for us.”

Along with actually feeding local residents, the amounts raised in March serve a dual purpose. Korbel said Minnesota FoodShare raises money throughout the year, and those dollars are distributed to communities based on the success of their local efforts.

While it’s not dollar-for-dollar, “there’s a one hundred percent correlation between the dollars we raise and the share we get,” he said. 

Korbel said this year’s drive is more important than ever, as Community Pathways is having to make some tough decisions about its food supplies. There’s food on the shelves, but “we’ve having to manage the variety and cost.”

Eggs, an item shoppers value, now take up about 30% of the nonprofit’s $250,000 food budget. A decision to make sure they’re on the shelves means stocking almost no canned fruit.

“It’s harder to provide the mix we usually do,” Korbel said, adding that regional food provider ChannelOne is also having supply issues.

“That’s why I set a lofty goal (for FoodShare month), and I hope we crush that goal,” he said.

To donate and learn more, visit communitypathwayssc.org.