Waseca Area Neighborhood Service Center

Our Mission: The Waseca Area Neighborhood Service Center (WANSC) offers resources for people who want to improve their lives. 

The Waseca Area Neighborhood Service Center and Food Shelf is an umbrella agency with an overarching responsibility for a food shelf, thrift store and many other programs to help meet the needs of residents. All programs are in one convenient location at 203 3rd Ave NW, Waseca MN. to serve you! 

We are so grateful for all of you!  

 

The need to supply the Waseca community and surrounding communities continues to rise. Wages and benefits have  stayed the same while the cost of living, including groceries, has dramatically increased. “We have seen a steady increase in the need for food and the need seems to rise each week based on the uncertain times we are in at the moment.” said Executive Director Cindy Kolander. 

In 2024 the Waseca Food Shelf assisted 10,455 individuals (5,571 households). These families took home 181,035 pounds of food to help provide nutritional support.  The need in 2025 has risen again from just last year. In October 2025 alone, we saw 1,279 individuals (606) households and assisted them with 17,615 pounds of food. We look for the rest of 2025 to be even higher numbers based on the government shutdown that saw loss of essential benefits to many.  With this increase, our food bank is having a tough time coming up with adequate food supplies for our food shelf to obtain at a reduced rate to fill our needs. This has caused us to look for other wholesale and retail suppliers to fill our shelves and freezers, straining our budget to the max. Any assistance you are able to provide would be appreciated more than we can say! 

To donate visit GiveMN.org and enter code 41-1452216, call our non-profit at 507.833.4119 or mail payment to 203 3rd Avenue NW, Waseca MN, payable to Waseca Area Neighborhood Service Center (WANSC) or Waseca Area Food Shelf.