COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. – (March 12, 2015) – Sitting on a quiet road in Columbia Heights is Southern Anoka Community Assistance, or SACA. They operate a food shelf, a thrift store, and help deliver Christmas toys, holiday dinners, and school supplies for those in need.
“Even though the economy is getting better, we’re still seeing more and more people coming here,” says Dave Rudolph, the manager of SACA.
SACA is seeing many more people. They saw a 20% increase in the number of families using their services in 2014, compared with the previous year. And to serve their growing client base, they work year round to keep the food coming in. SACA’s food donations come from many different sources including churches, businesses, individual people, and various school groups.
Besides local food drives, one major source of annual fundraising stems from their participation in the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign, which is designed to bring awareness to food shelves across the state.
Two-hundred and eighty food shelves in Minnesota are involved in the campaign sponsored by the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches.
“It’s a great community involvement with a lot of the area churches and businesses, but then we also get extra money out of it for ourselves. There’s some foundations that match the donations, a percentage of the donations, whether its food or dollars,” says Rudolph.
This grassroots food and fund drive is the only statewide effort where every dollar donated goes directly to food shelves to purchase food for the hungry. And whether the donations come in as food or as dollars, every bit helps. Each dollar can buy about a pound of food for the food shelf.
Another major fundraiser for SACA is Hops for Hunger. Now in its third year, they partner with many local breweries.
“Hops for hunger is craft beer tasting. We have 16 local breweries coming this year so we’ve got a real good selection. It’s turned into a real good fundraiser for us over the last two years,” says Rudolph.
SACA’s clients have seen the result of the last two years of beer tastings, allowing the shelf to buy 170,000 pounds of food. Last year, across the state, Minnesota FoodShare helped raise more than $8 million and more than 4 million pounds of food during the month of March.
“We can be the difference between putting gas in the car to go to work or eating. Or for a senior, getting their meds or being able to eat.”
RELATED LINKS:
SACA
Minnesota FoodShare
Hops for Hunger
