Chum In Need Of Donations For Minnesota FoodShare

DULUTH, Minn. – Minnesota’s March FoodShare Month has kicked off, and local food shelves like chum are hoping for — and in need of — a lot of donations to get them through the coming months.

Officials with CHUM Food Shelf said they hope to surpass the record of $220,000 and 56,000 pounds of food gathered last year.

But since the start of the pandemic in 2019, they say the food shelf continues to be busier than average.

“We have 3 cases of peanut butter left and a few cases of corn so every donation counts,” said Scott Van Daele, Director of Distributive Services.

They distributed 133,000 more pounds of food to more than 17,000 individuals. So a boost in donation after the holidays will help even more.

“March is always the slow time of year for food donations,” Van Daele said. “People are getting ready for taxes they don’t know how much they’re going to end up having to pay the federal government  so they’re not willing to let go of that wallet as easily and we start to get busy we need to fill our shelves in time for school when school gets out it gets a  little bit busier towards the summer.”

Minnesota Food Share Month runs through April 1st.

Community partners which donate include Super One, Mount Royal and the local girl scouts.