Above: Getting an assist from the Second Harvest truck driver, Ken Bartz off loads a pallet of food that he took into the food shelf located in the basement of the First Congregational Church in Grand Marais. Left: Ann Russ (left) and Jean Bartz fill up the nearly empty shelves at the food shelf. With winter coming there is more need for food in the community as families and individuals run short of money needed to pay for heat and warm clothing, among other things.
Gwen Lenz said that over the years the Cook County Food Shelf has been getting busier.
“The kids from the Cook County High School National Honor Society collected 300 pounds of food at Halloween, but in 2½ weeks it was gone. You should see how empty our shelves are right now,” she said on a recent cold, blustery Tuesday.
The shelves would fill up later that day when the Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank truck arrived from Duluth, but as Lenz said, it doesn’t take long for them to empty out.
A group of about six volunteers showed up to unload the Second Harvest truck and stock shelves, which are located in a room [behind the kitchen] in the lower part of the First Congregational Church in Grand Marais, the headquarters for Cook County Food Shelf.
“We could use some more volunteers,” Lenz said. “Some have left us. Right now we have a group of about 15. Some come on schedule and some come whenever they can.”
Gwen and her husband Bill have volunteered at the food shelf for the last 10 years and over that time more and more people have needed help, not less, she said.
“On average we serve 106 households. That’s up from the 75 or so families that we saw several years ago,” she said.
When winter comes, participation goes up and as many as 125 families get help from the food shelf.
“They need money to pay for heat or to pay for warm clothing. Sometimes they don’t have enough money to cover all of their essential needs,” Lenz said
Over the last year the food shelf has also partnered with School District 166 on its “Back Pack” program. The goal is to send food home with kids on the weekend to make sure they get enough to eat.
“The food shelf does a fabulous job giving us $10 produce vouchers for each backpack,” said Diane Booth, Cook County Extension director who leads the program.
The food shelf receives no federal or state money and relies on volunteers and donations of food and money to operate.
“We are open from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Monday, regardless of holidays, and on the first Wednesday every month from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.,” Lenz said.
There are no qualifications for people to use the food shelf, she said. “They just need to ask.”
To keep track of how many people are served, people are asked to fill out a form stating the number and ages of family members, so statistics can be kept, said Lenz, who added, “but we don’t ask for names of people.”
Serving with Gwen Lenz on the Cook County Food Shelf board are Steve Deschene, Sharon Hendrickson, Jean Perkins and Becky Deschampe, a liaison from Grand Portage.
Families are given enough food to last three days. Bags are loaded with peanut butter, jam, macaroni and cheese, soup, canned fruit and canned vegetables, cereal, juice, pasta and sauce, etc. Additionally, said Lenz, “Last January we started giving out $10 fresh produce vouchers so people could pick out the kind of produce they liked to eat.”
About 100 pounds of food per week is donated by area residents, placed in collection baskets at grocery stores or at area churches. Millie and Bernie Gestel pick up that food and take it to the food shelf. “They are terrific volunteers,” said Lenz.
The remaining food comes from Second Harvest in Duluth, which collects overstock and commodities from large stores and redistributes that food throughout the Northland. Financial donations are also received from churches, individuals and groups like Empty Bowls.
“Second Harvest charges us for shipping the food here, but we don’t pay for the food,” Lenz said.
Many who need assistance, said Lenz, have jobs but their jobs don’t pay enough to cover the cost of housing, food, health insurance, etc.
“We have had two success stories where people went back to school to improve their job or who had gotten a better job. That’s been really great to see,” she said.
Meanwhile, if anyone wants to volunteer, Lenz suggests they stop by the Congregational Church noon on Tuesdays to see what is going on when the truck comes. “That way they can get a feel for what we do and see if they want to join us.” Or, Lenz said, she can be reached at (218) 387-9860.
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