FROM OUR CEO

Each of the last three years has seen record numbers of food shelf visits in Minnesota. At Second Harvest Heartland, we are seeing more record-setting days, when we pack up and drive out half a million pounds of food. Half a million pounds of meat, dairy, fruits, and vegetables that are needed to keep our community fed.

Things are going in the wrong direction, and we need to do better. The good news is, we know we can.

In 2023, we laid the groundwork for a bold path forward. In January 2024, we proudly announced Make Hunger History, a shared effort to cut hunger in half for all Minnesotans by 2030.

In this report to the community, you’ll find stories about the ways we are reducing hunger today by increasing access to emergency food and preventing hunger tomorrow through policy and partnerships, tracking shared progress along the way.

Find out how we’ve shifted our operations to respond to the growing demand for emergency food and the ways in which we’ve been supporting our food shelf and meal program partners.

Learn about our newly established Care Center that provides neighbors with compassionate one-on-one support to secure groceries, meals and other basic needs during tough times.

See how we’re using data to discover the hunger hot spots in our service area so we can ensure food is getting to those who need it.

We are so grateful for the generosity of our community and your financial support for local food banks, food shelves and our neighbors. We will need your passion and continued partnership in the years to come. With you, we can and will make hunger history.

Gratefully,

Allison O’Toole, CEO
Second Harvest Heartland

Ending Hunger by the numbers—Your impact in 2023

127+ MILLION
meals provided

41.1 MILLION
pound of food rescued from 628 store partners

15,700 SNAP REFERRALS
for new clients seeking food support processed by our Care Center team

1,212,165 PREPARED MEALS
provided by Kitchen Coalition

16,009 VOLUNTEERS
donated 55,008 hours of their time

56,370,695 POUND OF PRODUCE
distributed

$1,383,247 IN GRANTS
given to help support food shelf and meal program partners

Supporting North Minneapolis as Food Desert Grows

The grocery and pharmacy closures in North Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center in 2023 left families with few options for nearby and affordable groceries. This meant more visitors to the area’s hunger-relief programs.

To support our eight North Minneapolis partners through this surge in neighbor visits, Second Harvest Heartland met with leaders from each food program to learn how we could assist them best. From those discussions, we learned that funding was tight and volunteers were in short supply.

With the help of our donors, Second Harvest Heartland provided a total of $110k in grants to support these food shelves. We also organized a volunteer week in North Minneapolis and invited media and policymakers to provide a little extra help while highlighting the need for volunteers for these partners and elevating conversations about need, capacity, available resources and racial inequalities related to hunger in our communities.

“We’re listening,” said CEO Allison O’Toole. “We want to know how we can adjust our work so we can see the need and provide the most help.”

Connecting Through Prepared Meals

Kitchen Coalition brings together kitchens and distribution partners to keep our neighbors fed.

Kitchen Coalition serves up culturally connected, freshly prepared meals because not everyone facing hunger has the home, health or ability to use the groceries our food bank offers. Second Harvest Heartland sources food and funds, which our partner kitchens use to cook culturally affirming meals that meet our neighbors’ needs. Partner restaurants and caterers are paid at cost for their work, which means they employ more workers and are better able to weather downtimes for their businesses. This community-driven approach means that neighbors are nourished, local businesses are supported, and meals are made and delivered with care.

Astrid Berger is the Cook Fresh program coordinator at Urban Roots of Minnesota, a nonprofit that runs youth employment and internship programs. Her program receives meals from Homi Mexican Restaurant, one of Kitchen Coalition’s partner kitchens, to distribute to the youth participating in their internship programs. “I got to talk with Miguel, the head chef at Homi. It sounds like our kids are going to go visit their kitchens and get to see the production in action. He was so excited to come to us, and we can now all make a meal together.”

“As a young kid, I used to go to kitchens like mine to get a meal,” says Miguel. “So having the restaurant, having the time, having the workers, and now having all the ingredients that we need to prepare meals, it was easy for us to just go for it.”

This year, Kitchen Coalition has started production of frozen meals, which has enabled expansion into Greater Minnesota. These frozen meals have had a huge impact, as many partners, such as Catholic Charities Emergency Services in St. Cloud, have a home-delivery program for temporarily homebound individuals dealing with illness or other crises. “Another interesting piece we’ve learned in the frozen food expansion is that it has been really beneficial for some of our Metro partners due to the flexibility it offers for shelf life,” adds Kitchen Coalition Program Specialist Aly Hotz.

Kitchen Coalition is excited about continued expansion efforts, as forging these bonds in the community and providing prepared meals is a valuable tool in the fight against hunger.

Introducing the Second Harvest Heartland Care Center

2023 brought the launch of the Second Harvest Heartland Care Center, a branch of the Neighbor Services team that reaches our neighbors in intentional and heart-forward ways.

“We’re not a call center, we’re a care center,” said Neighbor Services Care Center Referral Supervisor Rahsa Bale. “We want to give care to each and every neighbor that calls in and give them that detailed, comprehensive help that they may need.”

 A neighbor seeking food assistance can dial the Care Center number, communicate in their preferred language, and get compassionate, comprehensive and confidential support. This includes help accessing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), senior food boxes, and our FOODRx medically tailored nutrition program, as well as connections to community food shelves, produce distributions, and other food resources. Furthermore, the Care Center team, supported by a robust team of interns and volunteers, can connect neighbors to energy, rent, and legal assistance, as well as clothing, housing, and other basic needs services.

Second Harvest Heartland gratefully acknowledges the WEM Foundation for their investment to launch the Care Center in 2023. The WEM Foundation propelled the Care Center from drawing board to reality, making deeper personalized support for neighbors possible. Thank you!

Using Data to Serve More Neighbors

As our programs and services expand and evolve, we are tracking our progress to do more of what’s working and less of what isn’t. In preparation for Make Hunger History, we’ve worked on a new metric: the Make Hunger History scorecard, a way to rate our shared progress in the fight against hunger. One year from now, we will release our initial scorecard as a way to keep us on track for this important work.

Cutting hunger in half for all Minnesotans is a bold goal that requires constantly reimagining everything we do. But remaining stagnant in our practices will not end hunger. Adapting and shifting approaches is how we continue to do better.

Food That’s Good To Go

Food rescue—or excess food gathered from grocers, restaurants and caterers—provides millions of welcome meals every year. “Seeing a brand that people recognize helps fight the stigma of going to a food shelf,” says Jean Jagodzinski, Food Rescue Program Manager of Second Harvest Heartland. “It absolutely adds dignity.”

Additionally, food rescue supplements the items food shelves receive, especially during the wintertime when local produce is harder to come by. It also supports mobile delivery programs, which often send food to seniors or other neighbors who aren’t always able to cook for themselves.

Even the smallest food rescue donations can fill a gap. Many rural organizations are in small communities that lack a full-size grocery store, so donations from gas stations and convenience stores can make a massive difference. “I’ve heard from others that they don’t think their donation would matter … because the donations are too small or infrequent.” says Saint Paul Public Schools Director of Nutrition Services Stacy Koppen. “The truth is that when we all work together, our collective efforts contribute to a much bigger picture, and positive outcomes for our community.”

Advocate and Take Action

In 2023, our Public Affairs Team launched the Action Center—a way for supporters to advocate for our policy priorities at the state and federal levels. “We know that we cannot end hunger through charity alone,” says Director of Public Affairs Zach Rodvold. “Food banks and food shelves play a critical role in ensuring that everyone has access to nutritious food when they need it, but ending hunger altogether requires a relentless focus on what is driving food insecurity in the first place: the cost of housing, healthcare, and childcare; access to reliable transit or other modes of transportation; and wages and benefits that can sustain a family and that keep up with inflation.”

2023 financial statement

2023 set the groundwork for Make Hunger History—our bold approach to cutting hunger in half for all Minnesotans by 2030. Laying this foundation requires major investments that will set us up for success in our quest to end hunger.

These include increasing staff as well as establishing the Care Center to help provide resources to neighbors. We received an increase in in-kind food donations in 2023, and we also purchased additional food this year—providing free milk and eggs to our neighbors. We managed a grant process for the state, who sent us funds, which were redistributed to our partners.

10/1/2022 – 9/30/2023

 We couldn’t do this work without the generous contributions from our donors. 

Thank you.