26-02-2025
Minnesota anti-hunger nonprofit reports record food shelf visits for 4th straight year
The Food Group, an anti-hunger nonprofit that is currently dealing with a freeze in its federal funding, said that food shelf visits across Minnesota reached record-breaking numbers for the fourth consecutive year.
The data from the organization's 2024 annual report, shared in a virtual press conference on Wednesday, shows nearly nine million visits by Minnesotans to food shelves last year. It's up 1.4 million from 2023 and two-and-a-half times higher than 2019, pre-pandemic.
Food shelf visits spiked amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, which led to mass unemployment. This was followed by major inflation across the globe as the world recovered from the pandemic, with the Food Group saying groceries that cost $100 in 2019 now cost $128.
This record-high of needy families comes at a time when the nonprofit has been locked out of federal funding following freezes and cancelations by the Trump Administration.
Executive director Sophia Lenarz-Coy told Bring Me The News earlier this month the funding freeze impacts a grant from the USDA for the organization, and has created a cloud of uncertainty in providing for those in need but also its staff."That funding we use to support partnership for the communities so we've had to ask our partners to pause work ... everybody is just sort of in a holding pattern trying to understand what's going to happen," Lenarz-Coy said.
"These are multi-year grants. You think you're planning with something that's long-term stability but to just have it cut off with no warning and again, no communication, feels just almost out of the realm of possibility."
The federal funding pause by the Trump Administration was subject to a temporary restraining order and then an indefinite block approved by a federal judge. However there are myriad reports that the administration has kept funding freezes and cancelations in place in apparent defiance of the court order.
The Food Group supplies more than 200 food shelves in 30 counties across the state, also providing low-cost groceries in urban neighborhoods and rural communities with its Fare For All traveling grocery stores and its Twin Cities Mobile Market.
According to The Food Group, food insecurity remains a statewide issue that impacts Minnesotans of all ages in both rural and urban areas. There could be further problems on the horizon with the budget blueprint passed by the U.S. House on Tuesday, which includes $2 trillion in federal spending reductions that could result in cuts to SNAP benefits and Medicaid.
'While food shelf visits continue to rise statewide, the good news is they aren't rising as quickly as 2022 and 2023,' said Lenarz-Coy in a statement. "I applaud Minnesota food shelves for strategically expanding their programming to meet rising need. Tighter safety nets like the state child income tax credit and universal free school meals also make a meaningful difference for families experiencing hunger."'Looking forward, the anti-hunger sector is facing significant challenges and threats. It's unclear whether federal funding for anti-hunger efforts will remain accessible,' Lenarz-Coy said. 'Current proposals for a budget reconciliation bill include significant cuts targeted at food assistance programs like SNAP.'
According to the data supplied by The Food Group, food shelf visits have increased five times the rate that was seen in 2004.
