Two Harbors Area Food Shelf

ABOUT US

Our Mission: Reduce hunger and improve the health of people in need by providing food and other resources at no cost.

The Two Harbors Area Food Shelf is open for distribution on Tuesdays from 10:00 am - 3:45 pm. We modified our main distribution in light of the pandemic to allow for a 'drive-thru' distribution to mitigate risk to our clients and volunteers, and we have kept this model to streamline our process and enable us to serve more people more efficiently. Clients are given approximately 70-100 lbs of food per distribution which includes: meat, fresh produce, milk, and eggs. New in 2022, we have also added an additional distribution on the second Thursday of each month which follows the 'client choice' model of distribution, allowing shoppers to choose all of their items.  This distribution helps meet the more specific dietary demands of some of our clients, as well as provides later hours to accommodate varying schedules. Outside of our regular distributions, emergency boxes are available to clients upon request, which includes 20 pounds of shelf-stable items.

Thanks to our relationship with our regional Food Bank, we can leverage your gift with our increased purchasing power: With a $20 donation, we can secure 138 pounds of food to feed our neighbors in need, which amounts to 115 meals!

 Our Impact

• So far in 2023:
  • We have seen a drastic increase in demand for our services compared to the previous year
    • Already this year we've surpassed last year's total household visits with 2,118 total visits so far in 2023 (January-October)
    • Visits to our Food Shelf are up 60% over 2022 
• In 2022:
  • We distributed over 146,000 pounds of food
  • 2022 brought over 1,700 visits to the Two Harbors Area Food Shelf
• We served nearly 400 different area households
  • 138 of those households had never previously utilized our services
  • Over 28% of household members were ages 0-17

Key Programs:

• Tuesday Food Distribution:This distribution is a drive-thru model where participants drive through our garage and are provided with a prepacked food share 
  1. Each household receives 65-100 pounds of food, based on household size
  2. Includes fresh produce, frozen meat, milk, eggs, canned goods, and toiletry items
     • This option is very popular for those coming from greater distances as many are able to pick up for themselves as well as neighbors and family members at the same time, and our 2022 Food Shelf Survey results showed this to be the preferred method to receive food according to respondents
• Second Thursday In-person Shopping:On the second Thursday of each month participants are able to come inside to choose all of their items
  1. This option is popular for individuals with more specific dietary needs
  2. During this distribution we also host a different community resource each month that our participants may benefit from (i.e. Legal Aid, Lake County HHS)
• Emergency Food Boxes: On Mondays, Wednesdays, & Thursday’s when we are not open for our regular distribution, individuals in need of food assistance are able to arrange the pickup of a 20 bag of shelf stable items