Catholic Charities St. Cloud Full Choice Food Shelf Reopens June 14

(KNSI) – As life returns to its pre-pandemic feel, more services are returning to normal, and that includes services provided by Catholic Charities St. Cloud.

Catholic Charities St. Cloud Executive Director Steve Pareja says that includes the emergency food shelf.

“As you may recall, during the pandemic, with our food shelf, it was basically a drive thru and we handed you a box. And one of the things that we take pride on with our food shelf is the fact that it is a full choice food shelf. You can come in and shop it just like you would your local grocery store. And starting on Monday, June the 14th, we’re going to be able to reopen the doors. Folks can come in and utilize our food shelf in its natural design, pick out what you want, take it home, and we’re doing that by appointment.”

The food shelf and clothing program will now be known as the BEEhive Program. B E E stands for basic everyday essentials.

Last year, Catholic Charities St. Cloud served 44,251 people, bringing them food, providing them with shelter, clothing, and behavioral health services. Catholic Charities provided more than 1.3 million pounds of food to over 12,300 people across 4,138 households.

Another service that was affected because of COVID-19 was the congregate senior dining sites. Catholic Charities had to act quickly to deliver food that seniors would otherwise come to a site to eat. Pareja says they were able to meet the initial need, and then some.

“In midst of the pandemic, we were able to pivot and actually add the number of people that we were serving, as well as the number of counties we’re serving in. So before the pandemic, we would serve about 26,000 home delivered meals per month that jumped to 91,000 meals per month during the pandemic and we’re going to be able to keep up that pace.”

Pareja praised the efforts of volunteers to keep that program going and said the agency is working on getting congregate meal sites back up and running. Pareja says they will get those sites to capacity, but they want to make sure it’s safe for people to get people together safely. The senior dining frozen meal pickup sites will be available through at least the month of June. See a schedule by clicking here.

The Catholic Charities Senior Dining Program received the Circe of Excellence Award from the Minnesota Department of Human Services for its ability to provide food, shelter, and other assistance to needy Minnesotans.

Pareja says some volunteers were asked to stay home so they could stay safe during the pandemic, but Catholic Charities is asking volunteers to come back.

If you are interested in volunteering, find more information by clicking here or by calling 320-229-4590.

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