West Metro Firefighters Will Gather Food Donations March 16
In the 13 years of food drives, West Metro Fire-Rescue District personnel have helped collect more than $98,000 in cash and food donations, which The Food Group leaders say is enough for 200,000 meals.
“Many people don’t realize how big the need is, so having us out there in person, to help explain what’s going on, why we’re doing it, and to be able to make a big impact in the community is huge,” said Assistant Fire Chief Joel Nelson.
The firefighters will be back out at five locations on March 16 to collect food to benefit The Food Group, which operates its warehouse in New Hope. This comes at a time when more Minnesotans than ever are visiting food shelves.
“It’s all over the place. It’s in every neighborhood. All of our food shelf partners. We have 188 different food shelf partners across Minnesota and western Wisconsin, and across the board we’re hearing these huge increases, both urban and suburban and all over,” said Associate Director of Development Laura Mirafuentes.
“A lot of it has to do with inflation, and food prices have gone up so much, everyone can tell,” she said. “You can’t buy as much as you used to at the grocery store, and prices are not going down, they’re staying high, so people’s buying power is just really limited.”
Nelson said firefighters will accept cash or groceries outside Cub Foods, Aldi, and Almsted’s Fresh Market grocery stores in Crystal, HyVee in New Hope, and the Cub Foods at the intersection of 42nd Avenue/Rockford Road and U.S. Highway 169.
“It’s really nice to be able to help in a way that’s not emergency-related, but it’s amazing to see how the community comes together for this,” he said. “We are the conduit, but the people who live and shop here are the ones who make the donations.”
