EAST BETHEL, Minn – (April 19, 2018) – The North Anoka County Emergency food shelf, or NACE, serves more than half the area of Anoka County. In 2017, they gave out more than 200,000 pounds of food, and more than 20,000 clothing items.
NACE is open Monday through Thursday to give food and clothing to people in a crisis. After these four days of food distribution, they always have food left that won’t be in good enough condition to hand out on Monday.
“We use that product to give back to the community to anybody that can use the product,” said Annabelle Budde, NACE’s executive director. “Any food that can be used by human consumption, we want it out into the community, regardless of it you are in a crisis situation.”
They get their food donations from area stores, including Target, Costco, Festival and Cub.
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Based on what the stores donate to NACE throughout the week, and based on how much food is picked up by families in need, the amount of food on Thursday afternoons is always different. On this day, there was bread, donuts, milk, cream, salsas, bell peppers, lettuce, zucchini, salad mixes and more.
After the community takes what they will be able to use, the volunteers at NACE take whatever they can use, but there is still often food leftover. That food is given to a local farmer who uses it to feed his animals or make compost. But all of this only happens after NACE meets the emergency needs of families in the community.
“Our must go program is over and above daily food needs of families in a crisis,” said Budde. “You are in no way limiting a family that has already come to NACE.”
If you want to pick up some free produce on Thursday afternoons, you can help NACE with their goal of creating as little as waste as possible.
“We try to limit as much waste as possible, because the world has too much waste,” said Budde
Must go produce is available from 12-2 p.m. on most Thursdays. There is no produce available on the third Thursday of the month.
You can always call their office to see what they have that day. The program is open to everyone. You do not have to share your address or name to pick up produce, but they will ask you how many people are in your family and their ages.
