MARSHALL – Food shelves across southwest Minnesota are continuing to see a month-over-month increase in usage from community members. Nicole Knobloch, Food and Nutrition Manager with United Community Action Partnership (UCAP) oversees the food shelves within the program, including locations in Marshall, Tracy, Westbrook, Heron Lake/Okabena, and Worthington.
“Our numbers keep increasing each month. Since the summer, we’ve gone up about 100 families a month just in Marshall.” Knobloch said. “We are seeing in total about 400 to 500 families a month here in Marshall. In all of them, we are seeing quite a bit of increase in families that are needing to use the food shelf each month.”
Knobloch says the Worthington location is relatively new, “We opened up Worthington in February with food rescue and from there we’ve just increased it now with ordering trucks and full client choice at all five food shelves.”
Knobloch explained area businesses and volunteers are helping UCAP serve more families as the demand rises.
“We do a lot of food rescue with our partners at Walmart, Hy-Vee, Aldi, Kwik Trip, Sara Lee, Performance Food, and Schwan’s, and then volunteers – we just couldn’t do it without our volunteers. They are a big part of what we do each day and we’re always looking for more!”
Knobloch said volunteer opportunities can range from food rescue, helping clients with shopping, as well as stocking and unloading trucks, and helping during the food shelf’s open house hours. If you are interested in volunteering with UCAP’s food shelves, call 507-537-1416 and ask for the food shelf.
If you would like to donate to UCAP’s food shelves, you can go to their website where they accept credit card or Paypal. Checks can also be mailed to each food shelf.
