A Note from Sophia

Gratitude for a generous community

Fall is my favorite time of year—leaves are turning, we’re celebrating the harvest, and almost everything is pumpkin spiced. But amid so many things I love, I’m struck with the challenges we are hearing from community members.

Food shelves are continuing to see record high visits while many of the federal resources that supported food purchasing the past several years have ended. The cost of living in the Twin Cities is up 8.7% this year. And as temperatures are falling, families need to find room in already tight budgets for heating costs and warm clothes.

We are grateful for your continued support. The power of our community is strong:

• Thank you to volunteers who have generously shared their time reclaiming excess produce at the Minneapolis Farmers Market and packing food at our warehouse.
• Thank you to supporters who have generously given to support sharing high quality, culturally connected food with our community.
• Thank you to community members who have generously shared insight on how we can continue to provide foods most in demand and build longer term solutions.

Your impact:

• More than 5.2M meals shared this year. A 67% increase over last year.
• 6.2M lb of food distributed. 1 million pounds more than this time last year.
• 7,266 households served by Twin Cities Mobile Market since January 2022.
• 833,000+ meals with culturally-connected foods.
• 6x more produce gleaned by volunteers this year from local farms and markets.

Thank you for your continued partnership. With the change of the seasons, I am incredibly grateful to know we can count on the steadfast support of all our community members to meet the challenges ahead.

Sophia Lenarz-Coy