Thank you to all who attended, hosted and sponsored the eighth annual Vintner Ball on March 2!

This year, participants helped raise more than $230,000 to support Second Harvest Heartland—enough to provide over 851,000 meals to those in our community who count on us for support!

The Vintner Ball, a world-class, charitable wine tasting event, has been raising crucial funds for Second Harvest Heartland and our hunger-relief efforts for eight years. Special thanks to this year’s Vintner Ball sponsors whose generous donations made the event a success: Lunds & Byerly’s, BMW of Minnetonka, Bank of America, Lakes Sotheby’s International Realty, Milestone AV, Artful Living, Dolan Printing, MoCo and the Westin.

Check out our newest edition of Stories of Hope, the Second Harvest Heartland newsletter. In this issue you’ll find:

- An overview of an exciting new collaboration happening at Second Harvest Heartland, our Family Outreach internship program.
- How Coborn’s continues to play an integral role in helping Second Harvest Heartland close the meal gap in Minnesota.
- How the Meals for Minds program, a mobile grocery distribution program, distributed its 1 millionth pound of food this month.
- Pam’s story in our monthly series, “Hunger in Your Community,” and learn more about someone whose story is more and more common in our neighborhoods.
- And much more!

As the need for food assistance in our community continues to grow, your help is needed now more than ever. During the month of March, you can make a direct impact on your local food shelves and hungry neighbors through Minnesota FoodShare’s March Campaign.

For over 30 years, Minnesota FoodShare, a program of the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches (GMCC), has coordinated the largest food and fund drive in the state, called the March Campaign. The campaign brings together thousands of families, companies, faith communities, schools and civic groups to raise a significant percentage of the annual food distributed by its recipient food shelves.

Food shelves rely heavily on the food and funds that come in during the March campaign—this year, the campaign is expected to raise half of the food that local food shelves will distribute in 2013.

To get there, we need your help. Food and financial donations are the easiest way to give, and all donations will go directly to local food shelves.

To find a food shelf near you to support, click here or call 651.291.0211. Or, if you’d like to support Second Harvest Heartland with a financial contribution to help us secure more food for our food shelf partners, click here.

Minnesota’s Connexus Energy is doing more than providing electricity. Three area food shelves—ACBC Food Shelf in Anoka, NACE Food Shelf in East Bethel and Family Pathways in Cambridge—recently received new walk-in coolers and freezers courtesy of the energy cooperative.

With the continued increase in food shelf visits month over month, the ability for these food shelves to accept more fresh and frozen food is invaluable for the communities they serve.

Thank you to Connexus Energy for your support of our community’s local hunger relief efforts!

Photo by Mandy Moran Froemming

Hunger exists everywhere in America. It doesn’t matter if you live in an urban, suburban or rural setting—hunger has no boundaries.

Listen to Barb’s story, collected by WCCO Radio for our Let’s Kick Hunger Day Radiothon, and learn more about how hunger affects every community.

Give today to make sure that Barb and families like hers have enough to eat.

Rachel Flynn has been on a mission to help those in need, one meal at a time, ever since a family trip to Mexico brought her face-to-face with hungry children her own age when she was 5 years old.

In the years following her Mexico trip, Rachel volunteered regularly at Feed My Starving Children and organized meal-packing events at her church that raised 56,000 meals for hungry children abroad. As she worked to raise awareness of hunger worldwide, she realized that many of our neighbors are struggling to feed themselves right here in our own communities.

Now 14, Rachel has been volunteering with Second Harvest Heartland each week since August 2012. Twice per month, Rachel and her mom, Amy Flynn, sort and pack donated food into family-size portions to go to local food shelves and feeding programs. They also volunteer twice each month with Meals for Minds, Second Harvest Heartland’s mobile school pantry program.

Volunteering is just one part of Rachel’s larger mission to end hunger working alongside Second Harvest Heartland. Rachel also works to raise awareness of hunger as a member of Second Harvest Heartland’s volunteer Speakers Bureau, speaking at fundraisers and educational events.

Thank you, Rachel, for your passionate and enthusiastic support!

To learn how you can get involved with Second Harvest Heartland, click here.

We all know what hunger means. But who are the hungry? Who are the people that your support helps? Read our monthly series, “Hunger in Your Community,” and learn more about someone whose story is more and more common among the people we serve.

Pam
One in 10 of our neighbors doesn’t have enough food, and every day you probably encounter them. They work at the stores you shop in. They are kids who go to the same school as your children. And they’re people like Pam, a mother with two teenage daughters who once lived something close to the American dream.

Today, many of the people we serve once had good jobs, houses, savings and retirement accounts. And like Pam, they never imagined that they’d need help feeding their families. “I made really good money,” she recalls. “But I was also working on commission. When the economy got bad, sales went down and my income disappeared. At the same time, my marriage was falling apart.”

Suddenly, Pam found herself supporting her daughters as a single parent, working a $14-an hour job that covered her rent and insurance that helped pay for the ongoing medical care that she and her daughters needed, but nothing else.

“It felt like I had fallen off a cliff. And I just kept falling and falling and falling.”

As expenses mounted, Pam spent the last of her savings and maxed out her credit cards trying to keep up. Eventually she found herself staring at an empty refrigerator and empty cabinets, with no idea of where to turn. That’s when she called Second Harvest Heartland for help.

Unfortunately, Pam isn’t alone. Every day, thousands of working mothers and fathers wake up and get their kids off to school, not knowing whether or not they’ll have anything to feed them when they come home again. And her story illustrates how quickly job loss, medical problems or a family crisis can turn people’s lives upside down.

Chances are, you know someone like Pam — a neighbor, a friend, even a family member who’s fallen on hard times and needs a little help. Not forever, but for right now. The contribution you make today helps her and thousands of people like her make it through a crisis they did nothing to deserve.

Give today to make sure that Pam and families like hers have enough to eat.

The Meals for Minds program has hit a very significant milestone! This month, the 1 millionth pound of food will be distributed through the Meals for Minds program since it began in 2010!

Meals for Minds is a monthly, mobile grocery distribution program operating in nine high-need elementary schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Funded through a grant from Target, Meals for Minds helps to ensure that students have access to nutritious food at home so they can come to school ready to learn and succeed in the classroom.

Each month, students receive an average of 35 pounds of food–including fresh fruits and vegetables–that they may not receive otherwise. Volunteers are needed to assist with distributing food to families through this rapidly growing program.

To find out more about how you can volunteer at a Meals for Minds grocery distribution site, click here.

Since 2009, Walmart has been a critical partner in our fight against hunger through the success of our Retail Food Rescue Program and other initiatives. Now, with the growing demand for emergency food, Walmart is doing even more to help our neighbors in need.

This year they’ve made a generous commitment to increase their financial, food and volunteer support, with a goal to provide enough food for 5.2 million meals for families at risk of hunger. As part of their initiative, Walmart is campaigning to raise employee awareness about hunger and connect employees with volunteer opportunities here at Second Harvest Heartland with their “Volunteerism Always Pays” program. Through the program, managers from 30 stores and over 300 associates will join us to sort, label and package food to distribute to our neighbors in need this year. Since beginning to serve, Walmart employees have given over 1,700 hours of their time and energy— the equivalent of more than 200 full business days.

Partners like Walmart play a vital role in helping us provide more meals to more people in our community, and we can’t thank them enough for their donations of time and resources!

In just one month, the eighth annual Vintner Ball will once again be held at the Westin Edina Galleria. Join us on March 2 at 7 p.m. for this world-class, charitable wine tasting event—one you won’t want to miss.

You’ll enjoy an evening of some of the finest wines from around the world, gourmet hors d’oeuvres, and have the opportunity to participate in a silent auction and wine seminars. Wines are carefully selected by Bill Belkin, Lunds & Byerly’s wine manager, and each year approximately 125 different world class wines are available for tasting. All funds raised during the evening will benefit Second Harvest Heartland in helping provide more meals to more people in our community.

Over the past seven years, nearly $1 million has been raised at the Vintner Ball on behalf of Second Harvest Heartland—that’s enough to provide more than 3 million meals for our hungry neighbors. We hope to do even more this year, but we can’t do it without you.

Join us for the 2013 Vintner Ball and help us generate warmth in the heart during the chill of winter. Tickets for the Vintner Ball are on sale now. You can purchase your tickets here for easy registration or at the door the night of the event.

We want to extend a very special thank you to Bill Belkin and our presenting sponsor Lunds & Byerly’s who provide so much of what makes the Vintner Ball possible.

Hope to see you there!

There’s an exciting new collaboration happening at Second Harvest Heartland! Our Child Hunger Department has joined forces with our SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – formerly known as Food Stamps) Outreach team to develop a Family Outreach internship program.

Working with our agency partners and other community organizations, trained interns are stationed at a variety of sites across the Twin Cities to conduct pre-screenings with potential SNAP applicants. Interns use an online referral form, and within three minutes they are able to let a client know if they qualify for a variety of programs including SNAP benefits, energy assistance and medical assistance.

The internship program was piloted in the fall of 2012 with outstanding results! So far, over 1,000 clients have participated in the pre-screening process, and more than 400 were referred to SNAP Outreach Specialists for application assistance. This simple process has the potential to drastically increase access to much-needed programs, and we’re eager to see the program grow.

To find out more about the SNAP program and other services offered through Second Harvest Heartland, click here.

Check out our newest edition of Stories of Hope, the Second Harvest Heartland newsletter. In this issue you’ll find:

Read the newsletter online here.

Thanks to all who participated in yesterday’s Let’s Kick Hunger Day! We raised over $200,000 to kick hunger in Minnesota and western Wisconsin through generous donations and sponsor matches. And special thanks to WCCO Radio, Taste of the NFL, General Mills and Land O’Lakes for their continued partnership and support.

Let’s Kick Hunger Day raises crucial funds in support of hunger relief, 100 percent of which will stay local in our community. Times are tough for many of our neighbors, and the community’s support has never been more crucial.

If you missed the radiothon yesterday but still want to help kick hunger, you can still donate online here.

WCCO and Taste of the NFL present the fourth annual Let’s Kick Hunger Day tomorrow, a day-long event sponsored by Land O’Lakes and General Mills to benefit Second Harvest Heartland.

A record one in ten Minnesotans struggles to put food on the table every day, but you can help. Call in to WCCO at 877.866.4376 tomorrow or stop by the Mall of America Rotunda and become a Hunger Hero at $10 a month for a year. That provides a meal-a-day for the entire year for a child, working parent or senior in your community.

To get involved, call 877.866.4376 between 5am to 6pm, or click here to make a donation.

We hope you can join us in helping Kick Hunger!

Mike Kothbauer, a longtime volunteer and supporter of Second Harvest Heartland, has volunteered in just about as many ways one could ever envision: He’s worked the phones at the Let’s Kick Hunger Day Radiothon; sorted, packed and labeled food; worked the assembly line; and now makes calls to seniors and others eligible for federal food assistance programs to remind them that their monthly box of food is ready for pick up.

Like many of our volunteers, Mike started volunteering at Second Harvest Heartland through his employer, Land O’Lakes. And now that he is retired, he still participates in community service through Land O’Lakes’ retiree volunteer program, a service-focused program for retirees to stay active and involved in their community.

And stay active Mike does—for the last two years, Mike has donated over 100 hours of volunteer service to Second Harvest Heartland each year. To recognize him for his superior community service, the Land O’Lakes Foundation has donated $500 to Second Harvest Heartland each year as part of their Dollars for Doers program.

We enjoy seeing Mike around the office every week, and appreciate all the time he’s donated to us over the years. Thank you Mike for all you do!

To learn how you can get involved with Second Harvest Heartland, click here.

On Monday, more than 400 kids and their families rolled up their sleeves and packed, sorted and labeled food to help provide for those in need as part of Bring Your Child to Serve Day, in honor of MLK Day. By the time the last volunteer shift ended, 25,830 pounds of food was packed—the equivalent of 19,869 meals!

It was inspiring to see so many youth excited about giving back to their community and helping others. Thank you to all who volunteered, and we hope to see you again soon! We’d also like to thank our sponsor Bremer Bank for making the day possible.

And remember, the need for volunteers and donations is year-round at Second Harvest Heartland. Please check out our website or follow us on Twitter and Facebook to hear about opportunities to continue to help.

At Second Harvest Heartland, we’re all about community service and believe you’re never too young to start giving back to your community. That’s why we appreciate the Minnesota Children’s Museum annual Small Hands, Big Hearts: Sparking the Spirit of Giving event, a special celebration devoted to everything good about giving back.

From January 19-21, you and your kid(s) can work together on several fun and family-friendly giving-focused activities in between playing in all areas of the museum.

Engaging in community service not only makes our community stronger, it also helps children develop empathy and build confidence as they see how their actions can make a difference.

Thanks to the Minnesota Children’s Museum and Doing Good Together for hosting such a great event!

To find out how you and your kids can get involved with Second Harvest Heartland, click here.

One in 10 Minnesotans face hunger every day, and families who live in the rural and agricultural regions face a number of challenges that put them at even greater risk of missing meals. A lack of transportation, remote social service agencies and fewer jobs all make it more difficult for people to get enough food to feed themselves and their families.

That’s why we’re excited about a new partnership between farmers and local food banks that gives local growers a chance to help fight hunger in their own community. The program, called Invest an Acre, is part of a national campaign between the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Feeding America, Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and Monsanto that engages U.S. farmers in helping provide food to their neighbors.

Through the program, farmers can donate the proceeds of one or more acres of crops to help feed hungry families in their own communities—with 100% of the contributions going directly to a local Feeding America food bank. And for every $1 donated, Monsanto will give $1, doubling the contribution dollar for dollar.

For information on how to donate and help feed your community, visit InvestAnAcre.org or contact your ADM elevator operator to learn more about the Invest an Acre program.

As a semi-professional triathlete and running fanatic, Mike Buenting has run many marathons. But Mike has never run a marathon starting in dead last in a turkey costume like he did at this year’s Life Time Fitness Turkey Day 5K in Minneapolis. As the marathon’s official Transamerica Turkey Chaser, Mike was challenged by Life Time Fitness to start the race in last place, and see how many runners he could pass before he crossed the finish line, all while wearing a turkey costume.

For every participant Mike passed, Transamerica donated $1 to Second Harvest Heartland. After waiting almost 30 minutes for all the participants to start the race, Mike passed 14,500 runners out of a record 17,000 plus participants, raising a total of $14,500 for Second Harvest Heartland to help fight hunger in our community!

Thank you to Life Time Fitness and Transamerica for partnering in fun and unique ways to help fight hunger in our community. In addition to the $14,500 donation by Transamerica, Life Time Fitness also delivered two full truckloads of food donated by marathon participants to our warehouse.

And sincere thanks to Mike Beunting for his eagerness to run over three miles in a turkey costume—all to help provide food for our hungry neighbors!

A record one in ten Minnesotans struggles to put food on the table every day. To raise funds and support for hunger relief through Second Harvest Heartland, WCCO Radio, Taste of the NFL, Land O’Lakes and General Mills will host the fourth annual “Let’s Kick Hunger Day” Radiothon on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013 at Mall of America. The day-long radiothon, which will be broadcast on News Radio 830 WCCO, will raise funds to support Second Harvest Heartland.

Last year’s radiothon raised more than $170,000 for hunger relief. One hundred percent of your contributions will stay local and will help provide meals to children, working families and seniors in your community!

Participating in the radiothon is easy. Simply tune into WCCO Radio or stop by the Mall of America on Jan. 31 to become a Hunger Hero. Just $10 per month for a year, or a one-time gift of $120, will help provide 840 meals to those who are hungry.

To get involved, call 877.866.4376 between 5am to 6pm on Jan. 31, or click here to make a donation.

We hope you can join us in helping Kick Hunger!