Thank you for Attending the Annual Prayer Breakfast!
Thank you to everyone who attended and made the annual Community Prayer Breakfast such
a big success. Including a matching grant from Thrivent Financial, more than $4,200 was
raised for WeCAN programs.
Special thanks go to Scotty B’s Restaurant for providing an awesome breakfast and to Our
Lady of the Lake for hosting the event. Thanks to the members of the faith community who
offered fellowship. WeCAN board members Linda Blakstvedt and Asta Gersovitz did a great job
of making the arrangements. Thank you to everyone who attended the event and made
generous donations to WeCAN. Your support is greatly appreciated!
The speaker for the event was Sophia Lenarz-Coy, program manager for the Emergency Food
Shelf Network (EFN). Lenarz-Coy talked about food insecurity – not knowing where your next
meal is coming from. EFN supports local food shelves by providing quality food at low prices
along with training and nutritional information for food shelf staff.
Lenarz-Coy said that community food shelves were developed locally, mostly in churches, in
the 1970s in response to meeting emergency needs – usually for a one time use. Now, food
shelves are used by many who would not be able to get by without at least occasional help
from a food shelf, she said.
Part of the reason for the increased need, is the increase in the prices of quality fresh foods,
said Lenarz-Coy. While the cost of fresh foods has gone up 40 percent since 1980, the cost of
processed food has gone down 40 percent, she said. People on a limited budget are forced to
purchase the lower cost food items, which has resulted in diet-related health issues for some.
Visits to food shelves in Minnesota have seen an increase of 166 percent since 2000, said
Lenarz-Coy. While some people view hunger as an urban issue, the biggest increase in the past
five years has been in suburban and out-state Minnesota, she added.
“Food is expensive,” said Lenarz-Coy. “We need to be innovative and try new things.”
Lots of good work is happening, she said. Working with local gardens, farmers’ markets and
faith communities, food shelves are finding ways to stock their inventory with fresh-grown,
good quality products. Lenarz-Coy suggested that everyone can do his or her part by providing
financial donations so that food shelves can purchase items at low cost from food banks like
EFN. If you do want to contribute food, she suggested donating good quality staple ingredients.
WeCAN is developing a mobile market to provide quality food to individuals and families who
have barriers like transportation, disabilities and pride to accessing the traditional food shelf
models in our area.
The mobile market will offer plenty of opportunities for community members to get involved.
Financial donations will be used to procure quality, fresh food items. Food donations will be
accepted as per the healthy choices that will be made available. Volunteers will be needed to
sort and weigh donated and purchased food items, and to stock the vehicle for deliveries.
Drivers will be needed as well.
Stay tuned for more information as the WeCAN Mobile Market hits the road!