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The Salvation Army sees high demand at food shelves statewide
KARE 11 is partnering with The Salvation Army for the 2024 Food Fight, raising money and collecting food to help families who are facing food insecurity.
BURNSVILLE, Minnesota — The Salvation Army’s food shelf in Austin, Minnesota helped 359 households last Feb. 2023. Fast forward to Feb. 2024 and the number jumped to 801 households.
“That’s a huge increase,” said Maj. Cindy Strickler, who, along with her husband, serves as a corps officer for the Austin Salvation Army.
The need in Austin is reflective of what food shelves are seeing across the state.
Minnesotans made 7.5 million visits to food shelves last year, which is double the number from just two years ago.
“The need is greater than ever. The pandemic really did a number on us. We thought that things would get better and while most families are trying to move forward and ahead, the reality is that things have not gotten better financially. The need has actually increased,” said Capt. Josh Polanco, general secretary for The Salvation Army Northern Division.
Polanco said inflation has hit families hard.
“We see an average family spending $800 more on just everyday normal bills. They’re making decisions between should I pay my rent or should I buy food,” he said.
The Salvation Army said they are seeing an increase not just at their nine Twin Cities metro area food shelves but across their 22 locations in Minnesota.
“It’s getting tight,” said Capt. Anthony Nordan, corps officer at The Salvation Army in Duluth.
According to Nordan, their numbers have doubled from November 2022 to November 2023.
“What’s driving part of the need is some of the pandemic-era assistance — the extra money for food stamps, some of the extra funds that were coming in through the federal or state government — have just ended. But if we have gone to Walmart recently, the food prices never went back down,” Nordan said.
Because they didn’t expect the demand to increase even more, Nordan said they didn’t budget for it last year. They’re now considering increasing their budget again so they can offer clients a broader selection.
“They’re having a tough time just sticking inside that budget because by the end of the month, the pantry’s empty. You’re talking there’s no choice for the client,” Nordan said.
Strickler in Austin said they began the year letting clients come twice a month to the food shelf. They are now letting people come every week to get food.
“That really creates a hardship for us because we don’t receive the amount of food that we give out. So we have to purchase from the local food bank and also the stores around Austin,” Strickler said.
Locations like Austin and Duluth are holding their own food drives as part of the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign.
Strickler said they are in need of canned meats, boxed side dishes, canned fruits and vegetables, rice and cereal.
“There’s this perception that only the poor among us need food shelves. Actually through the pandemic what we’ve learned is that the working class is now becoming the working poor,” Polanco said. “They have to rely not just on one food shelf. There are families that have to rely on two or three food shelves just to make it through the month.”
KARE 11 anchor teams are facing off to see who can collect more donations for The Salvation Army.
For those who prefer to donate non-perishable food, KARE 11 will host a one-day food donation collection at our studios located at 8811 Olson Memorial Highway in Golden Valley on Thursday, March 28 from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Donors will receive a free hot chocolate to say thanks.
Tune in for KARE 11 News at 10 on Thursday, March 28 to see which team wins.
The newly elected board unanimously accepted it during a special board meeting Thursday night.
BURNSVILLE, Minn — STEP Academy officials said the school is taking steps to pay off its debt after letting go teachers, administrators, and people who worked in operations to balance their budget.
“We’re very sad we had to reduce our budget based on our enrollment but that was a necessary step so that we could stay financially secure,” said Paul Scanlon, STEP Academy’s chief operations officer.
Scanlon corrected a statement made by the St. Paul charter school’s finance director on Monday who said the school has an operating budget deficit of $2.1 million.
“It’s projected by the end of the year that it will roughly – 2.1% of our overall budget. It’s not 2.1 thousand or 2.1 million,” Scanlon said.
He said that’s roughly $275,000, which is how much debt the charter school will have by the end of the academic year.
“Through careful financing, we’ve been able to pay off some of our debt and get that number lower and lower,” he said.
Scanlon said under the Minnesota Department of Education, a school must be at least -2.5% to be considered in statutory operational debt.
The newly elected board started on Monday. Scanlon said there was some confusion about their appointment, but he said the plan was to seat them at their annual meeting on Oct. 21. He said all of the new board members were elected to their positions.
“Candidates nominated or being nominated for the positions to expand the expertise and size our of board took several weeks of getting the nominations and having ballots prepared,” he said.
The board unanimously voted to accept Superintendent Mustafa Ibrahim’s resignation. He said his last day will be Nov. 4. In his letter, he said “my time leading STEP Academy has been the most rewarding period of my career.”
Scanlon said they will not be looking for an immediate replacement.
“At this time based on our finances, based on the strength that we’re seeing from our two principals on both sites, we feel like we can cover many of those components and then we would look to post for the 25-26 school year,” he said.
The board also approved an Ad Hoc committee’s report on the job description of the superintendent of educational services for when they do hire someone for that role.
The board unanimously voted to postpone filling two school board vacancies until they have appointed a chair, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer. They’ll discuss it again at their next meeting, and possibly decide how they want to fill those seats.
“We’re 50 ahead of where we were, 50 deaths,” Mike Hanson said. “50 families who have lost a loved one more than we were at this time last year.”
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s a frustrating trend for Mike Hanson, director of the Office of Traffic Safety within the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
“Anytime I see an incident like the one that took place last night, I’m angry,” Hanson said. “It’s really hard to put into words, because this is exactly the type of thing that we work to prevent.”
Wednesday night, a 29-year-old man from St. Paul exited eastbound I-94 onto Lyndale Avenue in Minneapolis. The crash report says that man was traveling at a “high rate of speed.” That man hit several cars, killing a 26-year-old Minneapolis woman and injuring several others.
“That is the one thing that makes every bad decision worse, because speed brings energy, and energy is what results in injury and death,” Hanson said.
Data provided by DPS shows that there have been nearly 150 accidents in and near the area where this happened since January 2021. Some don’t involve alcohol, some do. Hanson said it’s their goal to make sure alcohol is never a factor.
“There is literally no excuse today for somebody to wind up in the back seat of a squad car, an ambulance or heaven forbid a hearse, because of an impaired driving decision,” he said.
Unfortunately, data shows that fatal accidents are up in Minnesota so far this year.
“We’re 50 ahead of where we were, 50 deaths,” Hanson said. “50 families who have lost a loved one more than we were at this time last year.”
Hanson said they work with different agencies across the state to help assist with education and prevention before anyone gets behind the wheel impaired.
“Our basic message is impaired is impaired. It doesn’t matter what it is that you’re impaired by, if you feel different, you will drive different,” he said. “And if you’re sitting behind the wheel and you have to ask yourself should I drive? It’s already too late.”
Police said the suspect in an alleged armed burglary is described similarly to someone who was reportedly looking into windows in the city earlier the same day.
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Police in Brooklyn Park are urging residents to make sure their windows and doors are locked after an alleged armed burglary in the city on Thursday.
According to police, residents on the 1700 block of 73rd Ave N. were coming home around 7:30 p.m. when they discovered a man in their home. The man pointed a gun at them and then fled, officials said.
The suspect is described by law enforcement as Black, 5’9 or 5’10, a skinny build, with a beard. He was reportedly wearing a black hoodie and pants.
Police said a man with a similar description was reportedly looking into windows and trying door handles around the 7500 block of Newton Ave N and Meadowwood Drive earlier on Thursday. In that case, the suspect was wearing a black hoodie with white lettering, a black coat with red sleeves, and light-colored pants, officials said.
“In light of these incidents, Brooklyn Park Police are urging residents in the area to ensure that all windows and doors are securely locked,” an alert from police said, adding if anyone notices “suspicious activity” they should call 911.
Brooklyn Center Police had similar sightings as well, according to law enforcement.
