Food Resource Center

October 2009 Update

Since opening February of 2008, the United Way St. Croix Valley Food Resource Center has distributed more than 407,000 pounds of food and other products to area pantries, shelters and meal programs in Pierce and St. Croix Counties. The initial success is greatly due to the support of the Food Resource Center's dedicated sponsors including:

• Associated Bank of Hudson
• Hudson Rotary Club
• First National Bank of River Falls - New Richmond
• Rush River Lutheran Church
• Hoel Stewart Family Fund of St. Croix Valley Community Foundation
• Rotary Club of New Richmond
• Rotary Club of River Falls
• The Deerfield
• An anonymous couple
• St. Croix Electric

We have available a Food Resource Center Fact Sheet for you to download and share. For more information on the latest Food Resource Center updates, please visit the FRC News page.

Why a Food Resource Center? - The Need

United Way St. Croix Valley works to identify and address the most pressing human needs for the people of Western Wisconsin. Food is arguably the most basic need for families and individuals in our community.

The dozen food pantries serving Pierce and St. Croix Counties have limited space to store necessary food and often the shelves empty out before the need is served. Most often there is no place to store perishable food.

Families and seniors in our communities often face the tough choice between buying food, paying rent or buying prescription medicines. And the number of families struggling to meet their basic needs is increasing every week.

And who are these individuals? They are our neighbors:

• Low income working parents trying to make ends meet.
• Children who need good nutrition for healthy development.
• Seniors on fixed incomes.

For more information on the need for food in Wisconsin, visit the Wisconsin Food Security Project or UW Extension's food insecurity reports for St. Croix and Pierce counties. You can also view reports for other counties in the state.

Our Response

United Way St. Croix Valley has built a Food Resource Center to store food and commodities for redistribution to food pantries, our homeless shelter, the domestic abuse shelter and other food programs. The Food Resource Center’s industrial-sized freezer and cooler enable pantries to have a steady supply of perishable food. Pantry volunteers pick up perishables at designated times for redistribution to residents of Pierce and St. Croix Counties.

United Way Food Resource Center - 612 Badlands Road, Hudson, WI

The building has a significant amount of open area used for Trinity Lutheran Church’s “We Do Feet” ministry. The focus of this program is to help the needy by collecting, repairing and donating used furniture, beds and other household items. The space could also be used a distribution site for emergency supplies in case of a community crisis.

SUPERVALU, Inc. Partnership

SUPERVALU, Inc. has been making quarterly donations of surplus food and products to United Way St. Croix Valley for redistribution to food pantries, shelters and community meals. These programs lack space to accept these donations directly.

Emergency Foodshelf Network Partnership

The Center is a drop site for large deliveries of food from Emergency Foodshelf Network. It can be safely stored until redistribution to the pantries.

The Emergency Foodshelf Network (EFN) is a nonprofit food bank that collects, warehouses and distributes quality food and essential support services to hunger relief organizations. There is no membership fee to hunger relief organizations to join the EFN network.

EFN gives its network a variety of financial and food benefits and savings and does not make a profit or margin off of any food that it distributes. Member agencies receive monthly shipments of free food and the opportunity to purchase high demand and culturally specific items at below retail prices. EFN was created in 1976 to help foodshelves pool their resources and receive quantities of food equal to their demand. Before EFN was formed, it was not uncommon for one foodshelf to experience an excess of resources while a neighboring shelf turned clients away due to lack of food or money.

Trinity Lutheran Church Partnership

United Way had the opportunity to build the Center because of a unique partnership with Trinity Lutheran Church. Trinity is leasing United Way the land for the building for $1 per year – making this important distribution center possible at a greatly reduced cost.

United Way St. Croix Valley already has a strong partnership with nonprofit agencies working to address basic human needs – shelters, meal programs emergency assistance and food pantries. Trinity’s furniture ministry is part of that safety net. The Food Resource Center has taken these critical community programs to a whole new level of service.

St. Croix Valley Foundation Match

The St. Croix Valley Foundation pledged $50,000 to match, dollar for dollar, all gifts and grants for a Permanent Fund to support the Center’s ongoing operations. Generous donors helped United Way qualify for the full match.

A portion of the interest earned on this Long-term Fund is now available to the Center annually to help support the operational and maintenance costs of the facility.

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