The Cook County Food Shelf was not open on Labor Day, September 7, 2015.
It’s a big deal to me. It is the first Monday that the food shelf has not been open since July 2004, when it became an “all volunteer” food shelf. When the Monday night fell on Christmas or Christmas Eve, New Year’s Day or New Year’s Eve, the food shelf was still open. Mondays were something our clients could depend on.
We were closed September 7 because the food truck from Northland Food Bank in Duluth was not coming until Tuesday, September 8. Our food shelf had very little food to offer those who would come on Monday the 7th. You see, if they came when we didn’t have much food, that would be that. Each household can come only one time in a month. They would not have enough food for the month.
We were closed because our expenses for food from Duluth and locally and what our food shelf paid in vouchers during August equaled $12,385. Our donations were only $1,850. Add to that, the fact that we had 264 households come to the Food Shelf in the last two months. It overwhelmed us! We didn’t plan for that many people we didn’t have that much food.
Many of our clients that come during the summer work with salaries well under minimum wage, because the state legislature ok’d it. Many of our summer clients live “dorm-style” but cook separately, needing extra food. Of course, they need help from the food shelf and I’m glad we are here…just not on this Labor Day!
It’s a big deal to me that we were not there.
Gwen Lenz
Cook County Food Shelf volunteer
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