Volunteers pose with an Emergency Food Shelf Network sign
For 50 years, The Food Group has partnered with communities across Minnesota to fight hunger and transform our food system. Although our work has evolved with changing needs, The Food Group Executive Director Sophia commented, “The through line is always food. Food is the heart of it all.”
Honoring Our Food Bank Roots
In 1976, 17 Hennepin County food shelves came together to collaborate and share resources in the fight to end hunger in Minnesota. At the core of these meetings was an uncomplicated conviction that, as Sophia put it, “if we work together, we can do better.”
The Emergency Food Shelf Network, now The Food Group, was born out of this simple idea for a joint network for food shelves to connect, innovate, and share resources. Today, we call this model—providing food and resources to food shelves—a food bank.
Past Volunteers in The Food Group Warehouse
The Food Group’s role as a connector and resource hub for food shelves across Minnesota has remained core to our DNA. Today, we partner with over 400 food shelves statewide, including all founding food shelves still in operation.
Evolving in a Changing Landscape
The Food Group is still a food bank today, but we also saw a need to evolve and broaden our scope. Sophia explained the need for the shift, “Food is a system, and we really needed to be working on interventions across the whole food system.”
Former Volunteer Board Member Annette Miller recalls that The Food Group’s choice to work across the food system was a key differentiator.
We began thinking about hunger relief in a broader sense and what we could do differently on top of food banking.
Annette Miller, The Food Group Former Volunteer Board Member
Investing in Affordable Grocery
The Food Group identified a need for more food resources targeted at communities without easy grocery access. We then added affordable grocery programs to address barriers and help Minnesotans stretch their resources further.
In 2002, The Food Group added Fare for All, a mobile grocery program that provides affordable produce and meat to 9 different rural communities. In 2020, The Food Group expanded our affordable grocery offerings with Twin Cities Mobile Market, a retrofitted bus that delivers nutritious food to 28 urban neighborhoods that don’t have access to full-service supermarkets or grocery stores.
Viola, a TCMMM participant, holds up fresh fruits purchased on the bus
For many people, shopping for your own groceries in a retail setting means autonomy, dignity, and choice. The addition of affordable grocery programming was a pivotal step toward reducing barriers and upholding food choice for food-insecure Minnesotans.
Centering Nutritious, Culturally Connected Food
At a time when shelf-stable food was still the standard for food banks and food shelves, The Food Group made a bold move toward nutritious food. Shelf-stable food was the easiest to access and the most affordable. But The Food Group wanted to increase access to food that was critical for health but harder to attain, such as fresh produce and high-quality proteins.
A shopper selects maple syrup at a local food shelf
The Food Group also believes that everyone has the right to access food that is culturally meaningful to them. For that reason, nutritious and culturally connected foods have been cornerstones of our food sourcing model for the past thirty years.
It’s about dignity. It’s about what people want and don’t have access to. It’s about making sure those top-quality foods are available at a food shelf.
Sophia Lenarz-Coy, The Food Group Executive Director
The Food Group also believes that everyone has the right to access food that is culturally meaningful to them. For that reason, nutritious and culturally connected foods have been cornerstones of our food sourcing model for the past thirty years.
Growing Food and Farmers
The Food Group continued to expand our approach to hunger relief work and began exploring sustainable ways of growing and producing food. A stronger food system where emerging farmers could access land and resources would mean food for generations to come.
Hunger relief really starts at the farm.
Annette Miller, The Food Group Former Volunteer Board Member
In 2017, The Food Group added the Minnesota Food Association (MFA) to our programs, which owned and operated Big River Farms. Today, we call it the Incubators Training Program, and farmers have access to land, farm resources, and education to grow their businesses at our 150-acre farm in Marine on St. Croix. We also promote long-term land access for emerging farmers at our agrisolar farm in Big Lake.
Mario, a farmer at Big River Farms, tends to his plot
Supporting emerging farmers and having a vibrant local food economy are tied to the same inequities we see in food access.
Sophia Lenarz-Coy, The Food Group Executive Director
Mobilizing for Change
Most recently, The Food Group merged with food access champion Hunger Solutions and added a new statewide focus on policy and advocacy. This has allowed us to become even more attuned to the lived experiences and needs of our community and mobilize with organizations and advocates across Minnesota to create lasting change.
Hunger Day on the Hill 2025
Collaboration started with our food shelf partners and it’s the same spirit that shapes our advocacy efforts now.
Sophia Lenarz-Coy, The Food Group Executive Director
Working Together for Lasting Impact
Today, demand for food assistance is at an all-time high due to rising food costs, inflation, and systemic barriers to food access. As families fight to keep food on the table, our work across the food system matters now more than ever.
The Food Group believes—as our founding food shelves did—that if we work together, we can cultivate lasting change. We will continue working to transform our food system and expand access to the food Minnesotans deserve.
Volunteers pose in front of The Food Group’s new mural
50th Anniversary Campaign to Strengthen Our Future Impact
For 50 years, we have worked together to fight hunger. Now we have an opportunity to deepen our future impact. Help us retire the mortgage on our New Hope facility and unlock critical resources in the fight against hunger now and for years to come.
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