Join us on the weekend of May 19th & 20th for a community-wide, congregation-led effort to PACK THE PEWS and STOCK THE SHELVES at STEP!  Have your faith community, neighborhood organization, workplace or family host a food drive the weekend of May 19th & 20th and then drop off the donations from 10am to 2pm on Sunday, May 20th at STEP.

We hope to raise 15,000 pounds of food to distribute to St. Louis Park families and children.  We know that we can achieve this goal with your help!  For more information, contact STEP at 952-925-4899.

Pack the Pews Flyer–May 20

STEP Top Ten Needed Items

At STEP, we encourage all donors and community members to consider donating one of our Top Ten Needed Items.  This list includes items that are in high-demand by the families we serve, items that are difficult or too expensive for STEP to access, or items that help add variety to our shelves for families shopping.

We also encourage everyone to consider donating food and personal care items as well as contributing funds.  STEP needs a strong mix of both to be able to provide St. Louis Park families with the most helpful experience in our food shelf.  In particular, this year has been more challenging for STEP to access good product at reasonable prices through our sources so food donations directly to STEP are even more needed right now.  Below is the list of our top ten and also a printable flyer:

1. Tuna or Other Canned Meat
2. Peanut Butter and Jelly
3. Canned Fruit
4. Rice
5. Toilet Paper
6. Cereal
7. Coffee, Tea, Hot Cocoa, Cold Drink Mix
8. Boxed Meal Options
9. Baking Supplies
10. Your Favorite Food Items

STEP Top Ten Needed Items Flyer

THE WEEK OF APRIL 2ND:

• The Clothes Closet will be CLOSED all week.
• STEP’s Food Shelf will be open Monday, April 2nd and Tuesday, April 3rd.
• STEP will be CLOSED Wednesday, April 4th and Thursday, April 5th.  (STEP Staff will be checking voicemail messages throughout the day.)
  
• STEP will be CLOSED Friday, April 6th but may open from 8am to Noon if the re-roofing project has been completed.  Call 952-925-4899 on Friday morning to see if STEP is open.
• If possible, please wait to drop off DONATIONS (Food/Clothing) until the week of April 9th.  Thank you!

If all goes well and as planned, STEP will open as usual at 8am on Monday, April 9th.  Thanks so much for your patience and flexibility!

Sadly, 44 years later, the “octopus” continues to choke our society.  In Minnesota alone 544,000 people live in poverty.  As a consequence, more people are using food shelves to meet nutritional needs and help mitigate the effects of poverty.   According to the American Community Survey, the poverty rate in St Louis Park is estimated to be 8.4% (or 3,713 people). It was 5.2% in 2000 (or 2,294 people). This is an increase in the poverty rate of 1,418 people, or +61.8%.  In 2011, 4,163 St. Louis Park residents were served at STEP with food.

As a kid growing up in a small town in Iowa, my family was personally affected by living in poverty.  While my parents both worked, there was never enough money, and many times we fell short on food.  What sticks with me most was not the lack of food but the shame I felt being poor.

Food shelves did not exist then, at least not in rural Iowa.  The local grocery store allowed my mother to charge groceries when we needed them.  I was often sent to pick up a gallon of milk, a box of cereal, a loaf of bread or even an occasional candy bar.  I didn’t really give a lot of thought to asking the owner to charge it on my mother’s bill.  Until one day she said in front of group of shoppers, “Your bill is too high.  Your mom has not paid in months.  I can’t let you charge anymore.”  As a 10 year old, I was mortified.  I ran home crying, and did not set foot in that store ever again.

As a society we still have a long way to go to rein in this “poverty octopus”.  However, we have made strides in how we respond to those who don’t have enough food.

Each March, the annual Minnesota Food Share campaign focuses on stocking the shelves across the state of Minnesota.  During this month, STEP is able to get matching funds from MN Food Share.  In addition, all monetary donations designated to the STEP food shelf during March and April will be matched by the Feinstein Foundation challenge.

STEP has a goal to exceed 110,000 pounds/dollars raised with this 2012 campaign.  With your support we can meet this goal and fill people with hope not shame.  Together we can hinder the “poverty octopus.”

–Julie Lapointe, STEP Program Manager

11^th Annual Empty Bowls Event
Thursday, March 8^th, 2012
Lunch: 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Dinner: 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Held at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center
3700 Monterey Blvd, St. Louis Park, MN 55426

No Admission Fee is required; however a free will offering is suggested. All proceeds benefit STEP—St. Louis Park Emergency Program, the local food shelf for St. Louis Park residents.

If you’re not able to attend the event but would like to support STEP, DONATE NOW to help create a hunger-free community!

The Empty Bowls Event is held in March as part of STEP’s March Campaign to raise 110,000 pounds and dollars to help keep our shelves full through the spring and into this summer. Donations made to STEP during March will help leverage free additional funds for STEP to access food. For more information on STEP’s March Campaign, CLICK HERE.

When I was growing up I remember my mother who, when returning home after a visit to family, would many times say with a sigh, “home sweet home.”  The feelings that I recall from her words are kindness, comfort, safety, strength and belonging.

For 36 years STEP has been home along with the feelings associated with home to many people in St. Louis Park.

Over the last 7 years, however, there was great uncertainty around where the home for STEP itself might be.  At times it seemed questionable whether STEP would have a home and continue to exist.

STEP has been so important to so many people in St. Louis Park.  I confess that at times all seemed lost, but looking back I see clearly that to our wonderful Board and volunteers, there was never a thought about giving up.  There came a chorus of support for anchoring a home in the community.  STEP’s volunteers worked long and hard to find this place that we now call home.  They have dedicated hundreds of hours to lead the charge and raise the money to bring us here.

After overcoming many hurdles a new STEP building was found!  It is a building of brick and stone.  However, the specialness of this home is that STEP was built out of the human hearts of the people who know STEP and its mission.  These hearts hold acceptance and respect for those who STEP serves.  They are hearts of strength that demonstrate hope and compassion, persistence, determination and a strong dedication to the mission of STEP.

Our goal is to complete the campaign, fully funded, and retire the mortgage—and claim this place as home, with no strings attached.  We are very close.  Of the $1.3 million originally needed, we have raised all but $70 thousand.  We need that much more in donations.  When we raise this money and pledges are all in, we will pay off the $235 thousand mortgage.  Our monthly mortgage interest is $1,400.  $1,400 will buy one month of the milk we distribute.

All of our donors and volunteers have been very generous.  To ask for another gift, or even to accelerate our pledges so we can get this done, is not a comfortable thing to do.  You already have done so much.  However, I do believe that the facts need to be clear to all, and that the people who know STEP want to know the facts and will do whatever possible to help and complete the Campaign.

Once the Campaign is done, we can direct all of our energy and attention to the mission of alleviating hunger of those in need in our St. Louis Park community.  Please help make this STEP’s “home sweet home” soon.

And as Edgar Guest shares; “It takes a heap of living in a house to make it home.”  A whole lot of living happens each day at STEP.

–Jackie Olafson, STEP’s Executive Director

March is the prime time to maximize your donations to help your neighbors in need!

In 2011, you helped STEP:

• Serve 8,886 households with food—roughly 10% of the St. Louis Park population
• Distribute 749,476 lbs of food, averaging 27 lbs given out to each individual per visit
• Serve 7,288 individuals with clothing
• Provide Back to School Supplies to 458 children
• Provide a Holiday meal to 530 households
• Provide a Holiday Toy to 673 children

DONATE FOOD:

• Cereal—hot or cold
• Jelly
• Soups—Chicken Noodle, Cream
• Canned Fruit
• Rice
• Dried or Canned Beans
• Canned Meat or Fish
• Healthy Snacks
• Personal Care Items

DONATE FUNDS:

• Every $1 donated to STEP has the purchasing power of $9 when we access food from food banks

WHERE TO DONATE:

• STEP: 6812 W. Lake Street during office hours MWTh: 8am to 4pm, Tues: 9am to 8pm, Fri: 8am to Noon.
• Community Drop-off Sites for Food Donations:
  • Knollwood CUB Foods
  • Lenox Community Center

Cash donations to STEP’s food shelf during March & April can also apply to the Feinstein Foundation challenge.  The more donations STEP receives, the more funds we’ll receive from the Feinstein Foundation.  Please write “Food Shelf” on the memo line.

MORE RESOURCES:

2012 STEP March Campaign Flyer

Quick Intro to MN FoodShare-March Campaign

2012 Hunger Facts Sheet

Bring donations to:
Lenox Community Center, Conference Room 111a
6715 Minnetonka Blvd. in St. Louis Park
Donations can be dropped off between 8am and 8pm, Monday Feb. 13th thru Friday, Feb. 17th.

A special THANKS to the Lenox Foundation for again sponsoring this event for STEP!

All community members are welcome to attend and participate in this event.  No Admission Fee is required; however a free will offering is suggested.

The event will be held at:
St. Louis Park Recreation Center, 3700 Monterey Blvd, St. Louis Park, MN 55426
Thursday, March 8^th, 2012
Lunch: 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Dinner:  4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Last year’s event raised $13,500.00 to support STEP services for St. Louis Park families and this year the event hopes to raise $20,000 for STEP.  All the revenue comes from donations at the event and local sponsors.

Empty Bowls began nationally in 1990 as a grassroots project of two high school art teachers in Michigan.  They created a way to add excitement and energy to a worthwhile cause. Students were asked to make ceramic bowls to be used at a luncheon. Guests were invited to choose a bowl, were fed a simple meal of soup and bread, and made a donation to the local food shelf. Everyone was given their bowl as a reminder to all of the “empty bowls” in their community.  This style of event continues to help support local food shelves across the nation.

Join us for an afternoon of Bowling, Pizza and Door Prizes to raise funds for STEP’s Home!
Thanks to The Park Tavern for donating lanes for the event!

Saturday, January 21, 2012
11am to 2pm
The Park Tavern
3401 Louisiana Ave. S., St. Louis Park, MN 55426

Buy a Lane: $50 per hour (up to 6 people)
Per Person: $15 per hour
Donations go towards STEP’s New Home

Bring a donation of Peanut Butter or Canned Fruit for a chance to be entered into the hourly drawings.

Make advance reservations by January 19th–CLICK HERE to sign up! Pay at the door (cash or check).

Please note that we’re using VolunteerSpot to schedule the lanes for this event.  Call Jackie at STEP if you have any questions–952-925-4899 x17.