News and Updates
2022 Summary:
Thank you to all who have given support - through volunteering, or food or financial donations - in 2022. We are so grateful for every hour of help, and every bag of donations or funds to help us purchase food. We had over 2,800 volunteer hours in 2022! If you'd like to learn more about volunteering, email us at lacrescentfoodshelf@gmail.com or call (507) 895-1115.
We saw a steep increase in need in 2022, and this is likely to continue in 2023. We saw twice as many household visits (2,223 household visits), and we distributed 117, 944 pounds of food - an increase of 69% over the 69,868 pounds distributed in 2021.
We were able to meet this increased demand thanks to our generous donors, and through the support of state grants, and organizations like Hunger Solutions and the Foundation For Essential Needs (FFEN), and through our partnerships with local food banks (The Hunger Task Force of La Crosse and Channel One Food Bank in Rochester.)
There was a huge drop in the amount of federal food available through the USDA's TEFAP program (The Emergency Food Assistance Program), and supply issues and increased costs led to our increased spending on food.
Under the skilled leadership of Bridget Arens-Jones, we started strategic planning, to help us be better organized and better prepared to meet the increased needs.
We received a grant from the Foundation For Essential Needs and Channel One Food Bank to encourage those who need our services to feel comfortable coming to shop with us.
We started a pilot Backpack Program at the La Crescent-Hokah Elementary School, to provide a few easy-to-open meals for students who could use this support on the weekends.
We are here for our community! We persevered through a challenging year, thanks to all our supporters and our relationships in the local community and the broader hunger relief sector. Thank you again!
December News:
Rotary Lights La Crosse was a successful event - we had two days that food donations came to us. Our days were quite cold and had low traffic, so we were given some food from area satellite collections to bring our total up to 2,721 pounds of food. Thank you to all who donated, and a huge thank you to Wieser Brothers General Contractors who volunteered the first night (Nov. 30th) and used their trailer to transport food to us both nights!
The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train returned to our community after a hiatus due to COVID! It was a great crowd that came out to see the train and support the Food Shelf. Our community raised $587 and 265 pounds of food, to add to the generous $5,500 from Canadian Pacific Railway Employees!
November News:
We are thankful to all who donated food to the Home Federal Savings Bank Food Drive in October, and all who donated or helped with the Halloween "Trick-or-Treat for Food" Drive! If your donation was not picked up from your home on Halloween night, please either bring it to us during open hours, or call 895-1115.
Thursday, November 17th is Give To The Max Day - a 24 hour online fundraiser where every 15 minutes, every hour and once at the end of the day, donations are randomly selected to have a Golden Ticket prize added to their donation. Your donation of as little as $5 might win a Golden Ticket for the Food Shelf of $500, $1,000 or the grand prize of $10,000! Last year, our sister program, the La Crescent Community Bike Shoppe won a Golden Ticket of $500 from a $5 donation! Make a plan to donate on Nov. 17th and maybe you'll make us a lucky winner! Give to the Max Day - La Crescent Food Shelf
The Food Shelf will be closed on Thursday, November 24th for Thanksgiving!
October Events: Home Federal Drive, Hunger Walk, and Trick-or-Treat For Food
Home Federal Savings Bank is hosting a Food Drive from October 3rd - 21st! Donations will be shared between La Crescent and Hokah Food Shelves. Bring in any non-perishable food donations to their lobby during their hours: M - F 9 AM - 4:30 PM.
Join others as we raise funds for food shelves in our area, at the Coulee Region Hunger Walk, Sunday October 9th, 2022. Raise funds or just register yourself for $20, and walk the route from Myrick Park through the neighborhoods, raising funds and awareness of the increased food needs in our community. All the details here.
La Crescent's Annual Trick-or-Treat for Food Drive will be on Halloween evening, Monday, October 31st. We are grateful for the youth and families that will help us collect this food, which will help replenish our shelves. Thank you, La Crescent United Methodist Church for hosting the collection and the food sorting on Nov. 1st.
September Events: Applefest King Apple Parade - Merchants Bank float & Mark Miller's Car Show
Thank you to all who helped to "Give a Buck To The Food Shelf Truck!" in this year's parade - we raised $2,082, and Merchants Bank will match that with $1,000. We also collected 65 lbs of food donations along the route. We truly appreciate the generous support from our community and Merchants Bank, and also a huge thank you to Merchants Bank staff, Food Shelf volunteers, and the Caledonia Robotics team and their 2 robots, for walking & rolling in the parade collecting funds!
We're also very grateful for Mark Miller and all who helped with the Apple Harvest Car Show, they collected 266 lbs of food donations for us at their event!
These donations of funds and food help us keep our shelves filled!
Farmers to Families Box Distribution this past year:
Each week we received about 120 boxes of food to distribute through the federal Farmers to Families program, and we distributed these boxes at 3:30 PM outside the Food Shelf. The box usually contained a mix of dairy, produce and meat. The intent of the USDA's Coronavirus Food Assistance Program is to help farmers and families affected by the COVID19 Pandemic, and there are no income guidelines, anyone can come get a box of food!
This program is continuing in March, April and May of 2021.
Location:
436 South 6th St. La Crscent, MN
Hours:
Wednesdays 1 - 5 PM
Thursdays 2 - 6 PM
2nd Saturday of the month
9 AM - Noon
Call us:
(507) 895-1115
Visit us today to access fresh and nutritious food for you and your loved ones.
Help is available for those who need it, no questions asked.
Together, we can make a difference!
We have moved again, to a location that will better serve both the visitors to the Food Shelf as well as the volunteers who help make our work possible.
Our new location is 436 South 6th St in La Crescent, the building that was formerly Pam's Hair Salon, near the La Crescent-Hokah Elementary School. We are so grateful to the School District for allowing us to rent this space.
THANK YOU to all who helped with painting, moving and cleaning, to get our new location ready for use! Thank you to Thrivent Financial for their Action Grant to offset paint costs!
We are so blessed to have had so many dedicated volunteers assisting us with our operations, and then with our big move to our new location. We had many volunteers helping paint the walls, and many more helping with the move of all our shelving and food. Montessori STEM School students helped with the move as well.
More Stories:
In May of 2018, we moved from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, to the HCP Center at 333 Main St., La Crescent.
In March of 2019, we switched from offering pre-bagged food, to a client choice style. Clients now choose the food items that they prefer and can use, with some limits, so we can share with all who are in need.
THANK YOU to all who helped walk with us in the Merchants Bank "Food Explosion" float in the King Apple Parade at Applefest!
We are filled with gratitude for the community donations of 309 pounds of food, and $2,331.16 in donations! Of course, we couldn't do this without the steadfast support of Merchants Bank, and we are so grateful for their matching gift of $1,000 - plus $700 in purchased foods. All in all, a roughly $4,500 value, which helps us meet the increasing needs we are seeing. THANK YOU!
We are so thankful for the support of Our Partners:
We are a partner agency of Channel One Food Bank, and receive food bi-monthly, including USDA Commodity Foods from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to those who meet eligibility criteria.
We also receive rescue retail foods from area Kwik Trips through our partnership with Channel One.
We are a partner agency of The Hunger Task Force of La Crosse, receiving foods each week. This helps us round out our produce offerings and our rescue deli items, as well as dairy, meats and breads as available.
We are thankful to have support from both of these great organizations, as we are a town on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
USDA Nondiscrimination Statement
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; orfax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; oremail:
program.intake@usda.gov
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
05/05/2022