RECORD DEMAND

For Deborah Fearn, keeping food stocked on the shelves at Community Pathways in Owatonna is becoming a big challenge as the local community resource is seeing record demand.

As she loaded cans of tuna onto the shelves on a recent afternoon, she paused for a moment to reflect on what has become a monumental job.

“It’s tough,” said Fearn, who serves as marketplace coordinator. “We work hard to not be burnt out. We are so busy. It takes two full-time people to stock.”

Community Pathways is following the statewide trend of record food shelf use. In the case of the local food shelf, usage has shot up dramatically from 220 visitors per week in October 2021 to 532 this year alone.

In 2021, Community Pathways served 1,200 families at least one time during the year. This year that number has jumped to 1,800 families with 56 new families just in November alone, according to Dom Korbel, director of the food shelf.

Korbel attributes the big increases to jumps in food costs, fuel costs and COVID relief that ended for housing in April.

“People had to pay rent, and they had no money for food,” he said. “We have found out how many families have a gap in their food securities.”

Statewide, visits to food shelfs are 1 million visits ahead of last year. In 2022, more than 5 million people in Minnesota will have used food shelves.

And officials don’t expect relief any time soon.

“There is no sign that this is going to back off,” said Korbel. “We are projecting 550 to 600 visitors per week for next year,” he added.

Korbel is already bracing for the current level of need to become the new normal.

As use of the food shelf goes through the roof, Community Pathways is struggling to meet demand.

In recent months Community Pathways has been hit with an unplanned budget item with a simple food staple—eggs. The local food shelf used to get free eggs, but now it is being forced to pay for them to the tune of $1,800 per week. Families are limited to one dozen of eggs per week, Korbel said.

“This was completely unexpected. We have limits on almost nothing, but now have the limit on eggs. It crushes us.”

As a record number of people converge on food shelves across the state, another troubling reality is setting in with a decrease in giving. However, Steele County’s food shelf is bucking that trend as giving is holding its own, Korbel said.

“We are hanging in there,” he said. “The support we get from this community is nothing short of amazing. This community supports us. This is an amazing community.”

So amazing that an anonymous donor wrote a $50,000 check to Community Pathways within the past month.  

Like all food shelf directors across the state, Korbel is keeping a close eye on the state’s record budget surplus. He is “cautiously optimistic” as the political landscape shifts to the tri-fecta of Democratic control—House, Senate and governor— next month. Korbel hopes to get a one-time infusion of money to help overstressed food shelfs.

Asked how people on the local level can help out, Korbel said it boils down to three things: dollars, food and volunteers.

“Food drives are awesome. We never turn down a food drive,” he said, adding they are always looking for more volunteers to complement a paid staff of eight.

Community Pathways also finds itself with a unique dilemma. Since it opened its new facility earlier this fall, more volunteers are needed because of the increased space.

Korbel pointed out how Federated Insurance sends volunteers to them every month.

“It’s not just the money. They provide us with time and energy,” said Korbel. “They are so far above and beyond the financial and are an important partner. They are over the top, over the moon. We can’t thank them enough.”

He went as far to say that Community Pathways would not be as successful as it is without the volunteer help provided by Federated.

Korbel said it takes 70 volunteers each week to carry on the mission of Community Pathways. He added people can volunteer for as little as three or four hours each week.

“There is nothing more important than hands,” he said, noting those volunteers save the equivalent of 5.5 full-time positions. “We cannot do this without volunteer support.”

While staff members like Fearn keep the shelves stocked, she also tries to focus on another important aspect.

“People come for the food, but they also come for the human connection,” she said. “We try to give them that—building the connections through relationships with people.”