Stocked and ready to go!

I am pumped for the increased access to good food for our neighbors on the East Side of Saint Paul.

Merrick Community Services has opened a SECOND East Side food shelf location in order to bring more food to more people! That goal of more evenly distributed, healthy food options is what drives Samantha Soriano, Merrick Food Shelf Manager.

Samantha invites you to the Dedication and Open House of their new location this Saturday, September 23! The Theme is “Putting Down Roots” and you know I love that There will be food from local East Side food trucks and restaurants, games, inflatables, activities, tours of the new food shelf, all coinciding with the Block Party hosted by the church they are housed within, Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church.

This is going to be a great time, and an eye opening way to understand the impact Merrick continues to have on their neighbors.

The parent organization has been around for a while, 1908 to be exact. Currently, Merrick Community Services encompasses five main branches of service: The Food Shelf, Family Services, Youth Services, Senior Services, and Employment Services. There is a lot going on in, and so much good being done by their 19 employees. Offering different facets of service under one organization better serves the individual; it allows for a synergy and truly lifts people higher, faster, steadier.

New cooler and freezer storage, with glass fronts make a big difference!

The Food shelf serves about 150 families each week during normal distribution hours, leading to about 600 each month. Once you add in the special produce distributions, it’s around 750. They typically give out anywhere from 3,250 to 4,000 pounds of food each day at our regular distributions.

Merrick Food Shelves are on track to give out about 600,000 pounds of food in 2017!

The Senior Services houses the Meals on Wheels Program, serving around 80 people every week. (Think how much e each meal means to each person every time they receive one!) The Employment Services division is getting an upgraded computer lab to help with both searching for jobs, and computer training. Until now they worked out of two different buildings; the food shelf and senior services out of Woodland Hills Church. The family, youth and employment services divisions worked out of another East Side location.

Some of the Woodland Hills Church volunteers.

Like so many of the best things in life, I found the Merrick Food shelf when I got curious. I wondered where that bag of food I brought in for our church food drives ended up. I didn’t even know exactly where in our church the food shelf was located (granted, our church is a converted home improvement store and rather sprawling, but still). I took the first step, and called the number. Samantha, the manager answered. I asked. I signed up for one time to volunteer. Almost a year later, it’s part of my (as much as I have one) routine- and the cliché is true; what I get out of volunteering FAR outweighs anything I give to it.

Samantha gets a lot out of her position as well, “I see the mix of managerial duties and building relationships with participants a blend of the best of both worlds.” She listens to stories (because she’s one of those people who listens well) about not being able to accept an entire month’s food all at once because of homelessness, or transportation limits and sees so many ways to improve services.

Samantha all smiles at the new intake station.

The current model of service (as in almost all food shelves) allows participants one visit per calendar month and doesn’t address the issue of homelessness. Samantha also hopes to expand services to mobile food distribution for those that are homebound; mainly the elderly and disabled in our communities.

Merrick partners with Second Harvest Heartland during the growing season to bring neighbors ‘fresh produce distributions’ a la “Pop up Farmers Market” style. This is a fabulous way to get more fresh produce into the hands of locals! You know I love this, and having been to the White Bear Lake version of these produce distributions, I can say the food is really fresh, really appreciated and really gone by the end of the time.

The last scheduled Fresh Produce Distribution is set for 10am on Oct. 14th at the Woodland Hills location. These are AWESOME & open to all!
Bonus: These produce distributions do NOT count towards a participant’s monthly visit.

Jesse and Quentin happy with the new layout and location!

Volunteer coordinator, Quentin West works with roughly 50 volunteers any given month- not counting the big groups that come through. “No matter what your skills or abilities, we have a place for you here”, he states with confidence and a smile that welcomes. There are so many aspects to keeping the food shelf up and running; from behind the scenes cleaning and stocking, food pick up and delivery, data entry to direct customer service and making sure the food distribution times run smoothly. You try and keep 50 different people happy and coming back each month These food shelves are run on volunteer power, and Quentin seems to know how to fuel up the volunteers!

I’ll go ahead and restate this truth here, “You get more out of volunteering than you put into it!”

I get to help during food distributions and love the variety of people I meet (other volunteers included) and conversations I have each time I’m there. I want to give a shout out to all the Boy/Girl scout troops and other groups that are looking for service hours; even if this isn’t your neighborhood, give either of the Merrick food shelves a thought for your volunteer hours; it’s amazing how much more of an impact your time can make in a community that might need a little bigger boost than your own.

Jesse tending some of the Woodland Hills raised bed gardens. Beautiful Basil!

Logistics coordinator, Jesse Edgington, came to Merrick from the grocery Co-op world. This puts him in a singular position to notice the juxtaposition of wealth and struggle in our food system. Most of the people shopping at the Co-op could afford to purchase the higher end foods without any sacrifice, while the farmers providing the local, organic, small batch foods were often closer to the struggle side of the economic scales. At the food shelf now, he sees these same foods a little closer to their expiration dates (along with lots of other food) having the ability to help others who are struggling. Jesse told me “regardless of where you are at in the food stream, there is so much waste. There is so much abundance built into the system, trying to be resourceful with the waste stream is my most interesting challenge.”

One of the urban farm plots the Jesse and Anna use to grow food.

One way he’s tackling the food stream head on is farming specifically for the Food Shelf participants. One of my first Forks in the Dirt articles was on Jesse and his partner, Anna in “Farming for a Food Shelf”. I can report their crops are always appreciated, and go fast on distribution day. Another innovative step forward for feeding our neighbors!

Pickup & Delivery Coordinator, Ken Hulbert, also does lots of figuring for the best use of vehicles and people power. I don’t get to see him during my volunteer time tho… guess there’s always more to learn!

Samantha’s all smiles at the new intake station!

In my elementary understanding of the food shelf system, it seems that too often your address dictates your access to food. Meaning Food shelves located in wealthier areas can support buying in more food, (because they having more donations coming in) and not taking some of the hand me downs. This is unjust. I’m so thankful there are people working hard to bring balance to the tipped scales.

I’m grateful I get be a small part of the process of getting food into the hands of those who need and deserve it. Maybe you want to grow that feeling in yourself too? I know a guy who’d love to hear from you, Send an email, see what sprouts

And don’t forget to check out the Open House this Saturday, Sept 23, 11-3!

Go ahead, Dig In!

Michelle

The post Serving with Pride on the East Side appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

And the needs of our neighbors are growing.

The Second Harvest Heartland website states,
“1 in 10 = The number of households in Minnesota affected by hunger. Hunger is an urban, suburban and rural problem.
There is no corner of the state where hunger does not exist.”

Chris was driven to make a social impact that went, “beyond politics, no matter who you voted for in the election; most everybody felt exhausted, beaten down by the campaign process.” This was a chance to empower himself and others.

Chris shared that he, “maintains the belief that people long for an experience in life and interpersonal connection that is genuine and authentic,” and he’s ready to help you dig in.

He researched other examples of giving gardens around the area, and after finding the Bemidji Community Food Shelf Farm, he was inspired to bring the garden to peoples’ homes in the form of raised garden beds. He also wanted to give people the recurring chance to physically touch and feel what they were doing to help others. He thinks it will serve as a good reminder of the issues, and a positive way to impact those issues.

Activism is for Everyone

Once the decision was made, many of the pieces for the Giving Garden dream came together naturally, from long-time friends to chance meetings. He started by garnering the support of a few local companies. Harms has gratefully received lumber commitments from Universal Forestry Products and Structural Wood Corporation, both in White Bear Lake and J.L. Schwieters Building Supply in Hugo.  “In addition to the lumber commitments, Rehbein’s Black Dirt in Hugo will be providing high quality screened topsoil at a greatly reduced cost and no delivery charges,” Harms happily added. Kind of proud of that awesome support from our local companies. He is starting with 50 raised beds this summer.

With a solid agency like the White Bear Lake Emergency Food Shelf in the community, Chris knew where to find that partner. He’s been working with Lee Bailey-Seiler, the White Bear Area Food Shelf coordinator, on learning how to weigh and log the produce grown in the giving gardens.

Once a garden is adopted and planted, the gardeners will be expected to donate a majority (51%) of the produce grown to a local food shelf of their choice and keep adding fresh veggie power to their neighbors’ meals, and the Giving Garden goal of fighting food insecurity here at home.

Chris Harms, installing his own Giving Garden

This idea is quickly gaining momentum!

Just before publication, Chris reported that 32 raised bed are adopted. He loves that people from all walks of life have signed on for the fun. The youngest gardener is a college kid home for the summer who will be setting up the bed in her parent’s yard, the oldest, an 89-year old woman who decided it was the right time to do something. (Gosh I love that)

They are still looking for more people to adopt the rest of the gardens, 18 gardens are looking for homes with caring families. Delivery starts on Friday, May 19th, and Saturday, May 20th. If you can’t bring a garden home to your own yard, you could still help deliver one to a neighbor!

Chris has long term dreams to tackle food insecurity as well, a community farm, deep winter green-house for when kids are in school to use it as a service project, and when we all could use the fresh produce.

You can contact Chris and stay up to date through the Giving Gardens Facebook page or leave a comment for me and I’ll get you in touch.

Giving gardens of all shapes and sizes are popping up around our towns. If you read this and are too far away to have Chris deliver a garden to your yard, here are some ways to get your own giving garden growing soon!

Are you inspired yet?

Dig In & Do Good!

Michelle

The post Grass Rooting for Good Food: Giving Gardens appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.