People: Jan. 6

• Food Shelves

Presenting a check to go toward northern Minnesota food shelves are Jeff Larsen of Minnesota Energy Resources, Al Rudeck and Margaret Hodnik of Minnesota Power, Sen. Tom Bakk, Scott Coleman of US Steel, and Terry Nystrom of Delta Dental.

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Jessamine Julian of Two Harbors was recently named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Jamestown College in North Dakota.

For food shelves

The fourth annual “Stock the Shelves” Arrowhead regional food shelf fund-raiser, hosted by Sen. Tom Bakk, secured $47,200 for northern Minnesota food shelves Dec. 21 at The Liffey in St. Paul. The event featured visits by Governor-elect Mark Dayton and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.

Prior to the event, organizers had raised $30,000 in pledges, but by the end of the night had secured even more money. Donations came mostly from corporations and major sponsors and the money passes through Hunger Solutions Minnesota to food distribution programs, including the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency in Virginia, with food shelves in Two Harbors, Silver Bay, Aurora, Babbitt, Chisholm, Ely, Gilbert, Grand Marais, Hermantown, Proctor, and Tower.

Lydia Bohn, an employee at Lockridge Grindal Nauen, one of the sponsors of the event, said “Stock the Shelves” started four years ago after she saw a newspaper story about a lack of food at Iron Range food shelves. Inspired by the story, Bohn, a family friend of Bakk, approached the senator and asked if she could attach his name to a fund-raising event or if he would show up. Bakk agreed to all of that and more, saying he would make some calls himself. Ten days later the event went off and the duo managed to raise $60,000. They’ve been doing the fund-raiser ever since.

“This is the fourth year that I’ve hosted this event and our economy is still slowly recovering from the recession. We still have job losses, stagnant wages, and rapidly rising food costs. And families are still stretched to the limit,” Bakk said. “We are doing our part to step out and help and I hope that all Minnesotans took some time to help others this holiday season.”

“The need for food shelves will never go away, particularly in our economy today,” Bohn said. “We’ll keep reaching out and engaging corporations and politicians. More and more people are utilizing food shelves.”

A report by Hunger Solutions Minnesota reveals that thousands of Minnesota citizens are relying upon our safety net of programs to help put food on the table. The upward trend continues at food shelves. From the beginning of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008 to this fall, there was a 62-percent jump in people seeking emergency grocery assistance statewide. That translates to 1.8 million individual visits for assistance at the 300 food shelves in Minnesota. Reports for Arrowhead food shelves alone indicate nearly a 20-percent increase in food shelf visits.

Hosts and sponsors of the event included Microsoft, Cleveland Cliffs, US Steel, Thomson Reuters, Minnesota Power, Lockridge Grindal Nauen, and Delta Dental. Additional support came from Minnesota Energy Resources, The Liffey, and Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings.

For more information on how you can help support the efforts of food shelves, contact Bonnie at AEOA at (800) 662-5711.

Tags: community, people