Minnesota sends $5 million in federal COVID funds to food shelves

The big picture: Food shelves statewide are on track to hit 9 million visits in 2024.

• That's up from 7.5 million last year, says Sophia Lenarz-Coy, executive director of The Food Group, a nonprofit that works with food shelves statewide.

Case in point: Neighborhood House in St. Paul's west side, which hosted Monday's news conference announcing the funding, says it's distributed 980,000 pounds of food to over 6,500 families this year, a 47% increase over 2023.

How it works: The money is pulled from a pot of $11 million in remaining federal COVID relief dollars and can be used for everything from food procurement to building upgrades.

• Food banks will be able to apply. The cash will be distributed based on demonstrated need.

The bottom line: The holidays can be especially stressful for those facing food insecurity.

• "We see a lot of commercials and things about abundance, and families are just trying to get by," Gov. Tim Walz told reporters.

Go Deeper: Food insecurity across America, mapped

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Neighborhood House is located in St. Paul's west side (not in West St. Paul).