Demand is up 70% from last year at Channel One Regional Food Bank
Mar. 9—ROCHESTER — Food insecurity is on the rise due to rising prices at supermarkets, and
Channel One Regional Food Bank
is doing all it can to relieve the struggle the community faces.
Rising food costs have led to higher demand at food banks and shelves, including in southeastern Minnesota.
Channel One, in Rochester, has been around for 44 years, starting as a small commodity food shelf before joining the Feeding America network as a food bank. Now the organization serves 14 counties — 13 in Minnesota plus La Crosse County in Wisconsin — and supports 163 different food programs.
"We serve people at or below 300% of the federal poverty limit," said Jessica Sund, Channel One's director of development and communications. "So we see a lot of working families, people who are maybe making too much to qualify for SNAP benefits. One woman in particular made 96 cents too much per hour to qualify for SNAP benefits, and that 96 cents does not help her. It's a really unfortunate cutoff."
Household visits across all of Channel One's agencies averages about 20,000 visits per month. There is no way to individually count how many people are using the food bank's benefits, but site operators can get a rough estimate of how many different households visit throughout a month.
"Just this last month in February, at our on-site food shelf, we served 8,875 food-shelf visits by households and that is a 70% increase compared to February of 2023," said Sund. "It's a staggering increase. Also, about 426 of those households were first-time users, so they never had to visit a food shelf before. Now they're finding themselves in a position where they need some support."
There are a few different reasons why food shelves could be seeing more frequent visits. Expectation of student loan payments resumed last year, which added to many households' monthly bills. The cost of living is also rising. Food prices are not the only thing increasing in cost. Gas prices and other household costs have been on the rise for the last few years.
"I think the average inflation for grocery prices is around 2.5%, but in 2023 it was an 11% increase," said Sund. "Wages and housing and everything combined is inflating. It's not just food prices. It's gas prices and the cost of living in general. And unfortunately wages don't always keep up with that."
While prices have been rising, many of the aid programs that families came to rely on during the pandemic also abruptly ended.
"The numbers have steadily risen since the pandemic. It's interesting because I think a lot of people thought what was going to happen at the peak of the pandemic actually happened post-pandemic," said Sund. "The major spikes and COVID brought in a lot of funding and a lot of support, additional SNAP benefits. What happened last year was just a collision of those additional SNAP benefits ending, and record inflation."
Produce, meat, eggs and dairy tend to be the most popular food shelf items. The food shelves partner with individual donors, businesses and manufacturers to keep their shelves fully stocked. One item Sund and the rest of Channel One make sure to always have available is milk.
"Milk is like the number one (item)," said Sund. "People always need milk, their families need milk. We have made a promise to the community that we will always have milk available. We never run out of it. It's a priority for us."
The food shelves help to feed people of all ages. Families and their young children come in as well as young adults and senior citizens. Every household is allowed to come in once a week to get their necessities.
"We trust them to take what they need for their families, for their households and for whoever it is that they're supporting," said Sund. "We've tried to restrict barriers and make it a really welcoming environment. We just really encourage people to take the step and come on in."
It's important to Sund and the rest of Channel One Food Bank to be encouraging and welcoming to anyone in need of help. There is still a stigma about shopping at food shelves. The implications of it often scare people off from taking advantage of the resources available to them.
"It's amazing to me how much stigma there is surrounding food insecurity and needing help, which is why I think that people consider it kind of a hidden issue. You can sit next to somebody at work all day and you will never know that they're struggling to put food on the table," said Sund. "They will not talk about it. They don't want people to know."
Sund is really proud of the free Minnesota school lunches because of this. Food insecurity is not something children should have to worry about, she said.
The hardest part for a lot of people using food shelves is taking the first step. Due to the stigma, it is hard for many people to admit they need help and ask for assistance.
"Most first-time users that come in, it's hard for them because they've never needed the assistance before," Sund said. "We really try to provide a welcoming space for them to come in and feel like they can get the groceries they need, before mom is skipping a meal or people are watering down the milk to make it lasts long enough."
Sund hopes that food shelves can be seen in a more positive way moving forward. The workers there are working hard to make their locations as inviting as possible and making sure each food shelf is a judgment-free zone.
"The way that we can combat that is by showing (users) when they arrive that they are welcome and it's OK — no one is judged," Sund said. "We really strive to have a dignified experience so that they will come back. I think a lot of people in this community, in our region, are living paycheck-to-paycheck. While they may be doing OK, one emergency can turn someone's entire life around."
Shopping in food shelves is not the only way Channel One Food Bank helps to distribute food. The organization also offers grocery delivery and partners with DoorDash to get groceries to homes in the area. Channel One has food distribution trucks and a prepared meal program in which Channel One partners with local restaurants to turn donated or rescued food into healthy meals for people to warm up and eat.
The best way to get involved with helping a local food shelf is through financial donations and by volunteering. Many are operating with the same budget they have had in previous years.
"We're operating really at the same level as we were last year, but with 50 to 70% more food shelf visits," said Sund. "So, our team is working very hard. The people on our team that source food are needing to get creative and are trying to really deepen relationships with retail rescue to offset their costs, nurture relationships with manufacturers, to get more donations in that way. We're doing everything that we can to increase the amount of food we bring in without spending more money."
Channel One Regional Food Bank serves people across 13 counties in southeastern Minnesota, plus La Crosse County in Wisconsin.
The organization relies on help from the communities it serves. There are two primary ways to help: by donating and by volunteering.
To donate, visit
The web page features ways to make one-time monetary donations, to set up recurring donations, to donate stock investments, or to organize a group donation through a virtual food drive.
To volunteer, visit www.helpingfeedpeople.org/volunteer. Volunteer times are set up through an online portal. Volunteers must be 13 years or older. You can also set up a time slot for a group of people to volunteer.
If you cannot arrange a donation online, or have other questions, call Channel One at 507-287-2350.
If you need help setting up a volunteer time, call Niki Lacktorin at 507-424-1705 or email nikilacktorin@channel-one.org.
