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Step 1:  Describe  your organization as a ministry on the margin (350 -500 words)Q1:  What is the name of your organization and/or ministry that you will use for this course?  Where is it located?  Is there a website link, if so please share.                            Q2:  What is the Mission and/or Vision Statement for the organization                                   Q3:  What are the primary focus areas of the organization, ie., healthy nutrition, violence protection, at risk youth, substance abuse, etc.              Q4:  What are some examples of projects that the organization has taken on.    Q5:  What are the funding sources?                                  Q6:  What are the anchor institutions that support this ministry?  

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Step 1:  Describe  your organization as a ministry on the margin (350 -500 words)Q1:  What is the name of your organization and/or ministry that you will use for this course?  Where is it located?  Is there a website link, if so please share.                            Q2:  What is the Mission and/or Vision Statement for the organization                                   Q3:  What are the primary focus areas of the organization, ie., healthy nutrition, violence protection, at risk youth, substance abuse, etc.              Q4:  What are some examples of projects that the organization has taken on.    Q5:  What are the funding sources?                                  Q6:  What are the anchor institutions that support this ministry?  

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STEP 1:  OVERVIEW OF CATHOLIC CHARITIES FOOD SHELF

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STEP 1:  OVERVIEW OF CATHOLIC CHARITIES FOOD SHELF

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Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf provides a 5-7 days’ supply of food to households in the St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Sartell, St. Augusta and Waite Park communities. Their mission is “to provide access to healthy food for people faced with missing meals.  They connect people able and willing to help, with those facing challenges in meeting their own or their family’s basic needs”. The working hours is Mondays at 9am to 6pm, Wednesdays 9am to 7pm, and Friday 9am to12pm. I am working at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf every Wednesday. They serve more than three hundred of households to come to receive food every week. My main job is to help people to pick up food that they need.

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Director of the Food Shelf, Kathryn Stolpman accompanying a client.

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The Food Shelf reflects the layout of a typical grocery store.  It provides dignity for people that experience food insecurity.  

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The Food Shelf reflects the layout of a typical grocery store.  It provides dignity for people that experience food insecurity.  

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It can be a bit of a tight fit at times in the small bus that has been transformed in the Catholic Charities Mobile Food Shelf.

The stairs lead to an aisle surrounded by shelved boxes of canned food, produce, coolers and more.

On Thursday afternoon, residents of the Empire Apartments in downtown St. Cloud put their choice of food into bags they brought with them, with the help of several volunteers.

People who are eligible for food help can pick up their five- to seven-day supply using the monthly service.

Catholic Charities staff developed the service after seeing a need among clients at the traditional food shelf on Roosevelt Road, said Kathryn Stolpman, manager of the emergency services program at Catholic Charities.

"It started out with really taking a look at whether people who needed food in the St. Cloud area could access the food," she said. "We started to address it from a transportation problem standpoint."

But as Catholic Charities staff and volunteers looked at the problem, they found that many food shelf clients have mobility problems because of age or disability.

"It kind of became more clear that even if they could get here by city bus, it was hard to carry that much food. It was too difficult for people to maneuver," she said.

"We came upon the idea, that if we can't get people to the food, can we get food to the people?"

So Catholic Charities staff worked with the St. Cloud Housing and Redevelopment Authority on places to reach low-income people.

With a $40,000 grant to purchase and retrofit a small bus and other funding, the mobile food shelf took to the streets this June. Staff and volunteers have been refining the process as they go. Once a month, they go to five or six apartment buildings to deliver food.

It's similar to the traditional food shelf in that clients get options of food to choose from in categories such as vegetables, dinner and more.

Empire Apartments resident Dee McCann volunteers her time with Catholic Charities when she can, including helping with the mobile food shelf. She's in charge of handing out numbers to people so they get served in the order they came.

It can be challenging for some residents to use services, she said.

"It's nice this way," she said. "I think it's very good for people here."

McCann uses the service after everyone else does. She doesn't drive, so she would otherwise have to take a cab, which can get expensive, or ask her kids for a ride.

On Thursday afternoon, she and other residents waited in the lobby. It was an opportunity to socialize.

The mobile food shelf had a soft opening of sorts, starting quietly to see how well it would work.

Stolpman said they serve about 25-30 households at each of the stops, for a total of about 120 households a month. The traditional food shelf serves 2,200-2,300 households a month.

"I anticipate that it's only going to grow," she said. "We are in the process of right now working the kinks out of it ... tweaking the process, before we begin to expand."

Now that the word is out, Stolpman said, she could see people from neighborhoods surrounding the buildings coming to the mobile food shelf as well.

Staff is looking at sites it could expand to, but that requires resources, staffing and volunteers.

"We're really trying to understand what the impact of having this thing is on our program and budgets," she said.

Staff looked at mobile food shelves in Cambridge and Eagan to get ideas. Unlike those programs, the Catholic Charities food shelf allows clients to make their own food choices.

People can sign up for the service on site, if needed. The mobile food shelf also needs donations and volunteers.

St. Cloud resident Rose Blesener said she volunteers because she feels called to serve and to feed the hungry.

She's been volunteering with the mobile food shelf since it began this summer.

"I think it's a service to the clients," she said. "It means clients don't have to get on a bus."

St. Cloud State University social work students Breann Goenner and Lindsey Morris were volunteering Thursday as part of their studies.

Working at the food shelf introduces them to the generalist model, Morris said, and shows them how to implement what they're learning in school: engage with clients, assess needs, intervene and evaluate.

"We go through the process and know what resources are available," Goenner said. "The volunteers have so much knowledge."

The Thursday deliveries were the first the mobile food shelf has done in the cold, snow and ice.

"I'm very curious to see what impact winter will have," she said. She thinks some people were still attempting to get to the traditional food shelf, but that could change with the weather.

"I'm anticipating the numbers will go up in the winter months," she said.
Follow Stephanie Dickrell on Twitter @SctimesSteph or call her at 255-8749. More online
For more information on how to sign up for food shelf services, to volunteer or to donate, visit http://ccstcloud.org/services/emergency/food-shelf.

Read or Share this story: http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2014/11/13/mobile-food-shelf-comes-people-need/19007439/

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Mobile food shelf comes to people in need

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It can be a bit of a tight fit at times in the small bus that has been transformed in the Catholic Charities Mobile Food Shelf. The stairs lead to an aisle surrounded by shelved boxes of canned food, produce, coolers and more. On Thursday afternoon, residents of the Empire Apartments in downtown St.