Little Kitchen Food Shelf

In 2012, 1 in 5 Minnesota families with children faced hunger. 8,500 people per day used Minnesota food shelves. Three reasons to support Little Kitchen Food Shelf with your giving dollars:

1. We are a small program, but we serve the same number of adults, children and seniors per month as many of the large, better known service organizations: Little Kitchen Food Shelf serves over 1,000 individuals per month, every month of the year; and we couldn't do it without your help! We order food from our food bank to supplement donations from the public, and ensure a reliable supply. This is our primary expense; we have no dedicated paid staff, but close to 50 VERY dedicated volunteers! We also grow produce in our 8 raised-bed gardens, and take produce donations from local gardeners. We do our best to deliver a healthy, tasty variety of foods to families in need! 

2. We serve EVERYONE who comes to our doors: 70% of our visitors come from Northeast Minneapolis. Because we are a no-boundaries, no-restrictions food shelf, the remainder of our visitors come from all over the Twin Cities metro area. We do not require identification, proof of address or proof of family size. This means we are uniquely able to serve people who are homeless, who move frequently, or are recent immigrants. We are also listed with United Way 211 as a resource for emergency food, for folks who can't get into their local food shelf in time to meet their need. Our only limitation is that we can only serve a household once every four weeks.

3. We raise a significant portion of our food-purchasing budget at the end of the year, through GiveMN! Without that year-end income, we would not be able to pay our food bank for the very low-cost, essential foods they provide for us. We would not be able to do the spring planting in our 8 garden beds, which provide us with produce. We would not be able to open our doors five days a week.  

We actively partner with our community to make it work! Our partners are a very important part of what we do. Little Kitchen works with area schools: Breck School, Edison High School, Fraser Academy and Mounds Park Academy. We provide hunger awareness and nutrition education year-round. We also partner with churches: Mill City Church, Mercy Seat Lutheran Church, Nativity Lutheran Church, Mount Carmel Lutheran Church, Northeast United Methodist and others. Little Kitchen was founded by members of Northeast Community Lutheran Church in 2008. We are a secular food shelf. Organizational partners include Eastside Food Co-op, 612 Brewery, Anona Gourmet, the Animal Humane Society, Greater Twin Cities United Way, A Backyard Farm, Emergency Foodshelf Network, Garden Gleaning Project, McKinley Community Farm, U.S. Bank & many others!

Please support our efforts to feed hungry children, adults and seniors in the community, year-round; because hunger is a year-round challenge for many Minnesotans. We can't do it without YOU!