Bemidji Food Shelf Provides Update After Seeing Record Numbers of Households

At the beginning of the month, Lakeland News visited the Bemidji Community Food Shelf to see how the organization was affected by the delay in benefits from federally funded food programs such as SNAP. At the time, the food shelf was seeing record numbers in people visiting to get groceries and meals.

With the return of benefits to thousands of local families, the food shelf has seen the amount of visitors return to an average amount of people, but for a week, they saw more people than they ever had before.

“The first week in November, we saw record numbers, and [on] Monday, the first Monday of the month, we set a new record of the number of household visits in one day of 123,” said Bemidji Community Food Shelf Interim Executive Director Kathy Felix. “We tied that record on Wednesday and then we broke that record. Breaking records is not what we want to do here. And so we ended up having 126 households come [on Friday].”

In just week one of November, the food shelf served 372 households, nearly 150 higher than average. This past week, numbers have started to return back to normal with the return of SNAP benefits to Minnesotans, and an average of 75 households have visited a day. But the community shelf doesn’t feel as if it’s in the clear yet.

“I think it has had a big impact,” added Felix. “I think people have realized that it really is important that we care for each other. We live in community, and it is important to care for one another, and they have stepped up tremendously. And I think for the food shelf what it means is, we have to be prepared. Yes, they approved the SNAP through September of [20]26, but what happens then?”

Even though the number of people visiting the Bemidji Community Food Shelf has gone down over the past week, the events of this month have brought about a need to be prepared for possible surges in demand. The food shelf is still accepting non-perishable donations from the public, and it’s always looking for more volunteers as well.