Taproom Holding St. Patrick’s Day Fundraiser for Food Shelf

Jake Judd (KNSI)

(KNSI) – March is Food Share month, and you can help a St. Cloud area food shelf feed hungry families and enjoy a beer from a local taproom on St. Patrick’s Day.

Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf will be Tending for a Cause on March 17th from 5 to 7 pm at Beaver Island Brewing’s taproom, 216 6th Avenue South, in downtown St. Cloud.

Catholic Charities Executive Director Steve Pareja spoke with KNSI’s Bob Hughes and talked about how people can donate.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to grab some beer, take some beer home, and also help out because for every pint sold, $1 goes to Catholic Charities food shelf, and for every Growler sold, four dollars goes to our food shelf.”

Pareja says your cash donations to Catholic Charities are multiplied.

“Because of our partnerships with Second Harvest Heartland and other food distributors in the area, we can multiply those dollars by at least three. So think of it this way. You buy yourself a pint of beer $3 goes directly to food to help people right here in our community.”

Pareja says this fundraiser shows that great partnerships that exist between local nonprofits and local businesses.

“When when you go to an event, like tending for a cause, that’s our community helping local businesses. And at the same time, it’s local businesses helping our community.”

According to Catholic Charities, one in nine people in the state go hungry each day, and one and six children aren’t getting enough to eat.

“People would be shocked to find out who comes to our food shelves because it’s your neighbors. It’s people that you know; it’s people that are working poor, they might have jobs, they might have homes, they’re just having trouble paying the bills. Those are the folks that are coming through that need to pick up that food just to bridge a gap between the next paycheck or those difficult times.”

All donations to the food shelf stay in central Minnesota.

Beaver Island Brewing has hosted Tending for a Cause fundraising events for several years.

For more information on Tending for a Cause, click here.

On Friday, March 19th, Catholic Charities will be teaming up with Pioneer Place on Fifth and St. Cloud Hyundai for the annual Pack the Porches food drive.

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

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