Pack the Porches Food Drive Friday

(KNSI) – The 11th annual Pack the Porches food drive to support Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud is Friday.

Catholic Charities Food Shelf will take curbside donations of cash, checks, and nonperishable food at Pioneer Place on Fifth, 22 5th Avenue South in St. Cloud, and St. Cloud Hyundai, 900 2nd Street South in Waite Park.

Catholic Charities Executive Director Steve Pareja was a guest of KNSI’s Bob Hughes and said this is a chance to restock the food shelf after seeing a huge surge during the pandemic.

“It is incredible the amount of increased need that we see in our community. People who never thought that they would ever need to visit a food shelf are finding that they need to stop in, and we want to make sure that we’re there to help those people during these difficult times.”

The fundraiser is held during Minnesota FoodShare month because many food shelves are starting to run low on food.

“What happens is, there’s this pool of money out there so, any money that Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf raises during March, actually March 1 through April the 11th. What happens is we get a percentage of that pool of money, which is why we’ve got things like Pack the Porches occurring during March to help us boost our dollars.”

The money for the pool comes from the Minnesota Council of Churches.

Every dollar donated to the food shelf can buy three dollars worth of food thanks to special deals Catholic Charities can get from their suppliers.

“You know, with a little bit of help, a little bit of money, we can make a big difference in people’s lives. People who are otherwise going to go hungry. People who are going to have to put off paying a bill. People may have to skip a meal because someone else in their family needs it. Maybe it’s somebody who has to decide, am I going to get that prescription refilled? Or am I going to have something to eat?”

Pioneer Place will be collecting donations starting at 6 a.m. and St. Cloud Hyundai at 7 a.m. Both curbside locations will be open until 1 p.m. on Friday.

Besides food and money, people can donate toiletry items like toilet paper, deodorant, and diapers.

If you can’t make either drop-off location, you can donate online by clicking here.

Coborn’s will once again match up to 10,000 pounds of food or cash donations.

Last year, Pack the Porches raised around 29,000 pounds of food and nearly $20,000.

According to Catholic Charities, one in six children and one in nine adults in Minnesota are expected to face hunger in the coming months.