(KNOX) – In April, Northlands Rescue Mission served more meals (11,000) and provided more food boxes (797) to local families than any other month on record. This marks another milestone in what has been several straight years of increased demand for food assistance at the Mission.
“I believe there are many factors that have contributed to the rising number of people seeking meals or food boxes from the Mission,” says Sue Shirek, Executive Director at Northlands Rescue Mission. “We have all been impacted by the cost of groceries. People on fixed incomes, those living in poverty, and those who have been recently homeless are impacted even more so by the cost of food, housing, insurance, etc. It just costs more to live!”
In 2019, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mission provided about 4600 meals and 140 food boxes each month. Those numbers have increased steadily year-over-year and have now hit all-time highs.
“We are seeing people who have never used a food pantry before,” says Matt Collings, Communications Coordinator at Northlands Rescue Mission. “They’ve reached that point where they are making decisions between buying food and keeping the lights on or filling their car with gas. Our hope is that food from the pantry can give them some stability, where they don’t have to make those difficult choices or be afraid of losing their home. The question is: when and where will the number of people in need level off?”
The increased need for food at Northlands Rescue Mission mirrors an increasing need across the United States: available data from the US Census Bureau indicate that household food insecurity rates rose from 7.8% in August 2021 to 12.5% in October 2023. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show the largest increase in food insecure households since the Great Recession during that time.
According to Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, North Dakota saw the largest percentage increase in the number of food insecure people in the entire country (+56.8%) from 2021 to 2022. Feeding America estimates 6,260 food insecure people lived
in Grand Forks county in 2022, a number which has almost certainly increased since.
As the number of people needing food assistance continues to rise, Mission staff see it as their responsibility to make food support programs as accessible as possible.
“We’ve put a lot more energy into the food pantry side of things in recent years,” says Matt Collings. “We’ve expanded food box hours, started a Mobile Food Pantry that visits rural communities, began serving to-go meals out of the front door, and expanded the Backpack Program to every elementary school in Grand Forks.”
“As we have continued our model of serving takeouts at the front door of the Mission, rather than requiring people to come in the dining room to eat, I think the stigma of coming to the Mission for food is reduced and more people feel comfortable coming to get a meal, especially if they are feeding a family,” says Sue Shirek.
Northlands Rescue Mission provides community meals every day at noon and 5 pm. Food boxes are available weekdays from 10 am – 4 pm (and until 7 pm on Wednesdays). A list of local food pantries can be found at https://www.findhelp.org/food/food-pantry–grand-forks-nd
If you would like to help local pantries meet the increasing demand for food assistance, monetary or food donations are the best way to help. Volunteers are also a big source of support, helping pantries stay organized and operational.
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