Morrison County Food Shelf Planning For a Fruitful Future

“We have to haul of that in, weigh it, sort it and display it,” said Morrison County Food Shelf volunteer Jon Swenson.

Swenson is explaining how each of his shifts start out at the Morrison County Food Shelf, where he donates his time twice a week for the past 15 years.

“As soon as I retired from teaching, I felt God wanted me to help people that were not having enough food and they were hungry,” Swenson said.

For over 30 years, the food shelf has been making sure no one in Morrison County has to go hungry, with the shelves filled from individual donations as well as from stores like Walmart and Coborn’s. And soon, even more food will be coming in after a new partnership with Aldi. With the additional produce donations, the food shelf hopes to add longer hours to provide more access for community members in need.

“It’s just a blessing to be able to be here to help them,” said Peggy Ficea, the Morrison County Food Shelf Co-Director. “I’ve been where they have been at; I too used food shelves when my kids were younger, and if it hadn’t been for them, it would have been really tough going.”

In 2017, they served a total of 4,240 families throughout the year. Based on the family size of the clients, they are able to take a certain number of different food items off of the shelf, and larger families are provided with additional groceries.

“They get a choice or two out of here because that will help them out a lot more,” Swenson said.

And already in 2018, the food shelf has served 669 families by giving away a total of 58,233 pounds of food.

“The wonderful support that we have received and the kindness that everyone…even if it is $5, it goes a long way,” Ficea said.

Whether you donate food, money or time, the Morrison County Food Shelf is happy with the support of their community. The food shelf is looking for volunteers to pick up the additional produce coming in. For more information on how to volunteer, click here.