EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is part of a Grand Forks Herald series about food insecurity in the region.
GRAND FORKS – Food insecurity may be one of those issues that’s not obvious or readily recognizable in many communities – and some maintain that should change.
“I do think there are ways we can better address food insecurity in our community (including) an awareness that it’s a concern in our community,” said Kayla Hochstetler, director of community engagement and innovation at Spectra Health in Grand Forks.
“Grand Forks is a really wonderful, generous, kind community. But I don’t think a lot of people realize that there are families and kids in our community that are consistently hungry and don’t have access to food when they need it,” Hochstetler said. “So I think awareness and education around that is important.
“I think the (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is the most comprehensive and effective way, in my opinion, to combat food insecurity that allows people choice and access in a way that food pantries and food programming often can’t, for lots of different reasons.
“Food pantries are really meant to be a fill-in when there’s circumstances beyond folks’ control, but we’re seeing more and more that it’s becoming a consistent month-to-month need versus just the occasional need. And, obviously, as food costs rise and we see lots of costs rising for folks and families are just consistently struggling to get food, food pantries are struggling more and more to keep food on their shelves. People are needing it more often, and there’s less and less available.”
While food insecurity is an important concern, the United Way of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks and Area takes an approach of focusing on “the whole family situation” in its work with those in need, said Heather Fuglem, executive director.
Fuglem and her staff members work with clients to determine what “mainstream benefits” they are on and help them apply for and get on programs – related to aspects such as utilities or housing – for which they qualify.
“That lessens the need for food (donation),” she said. “Clients who used to come in every month are now coming in once every two to three months.”
Since 2022, the number of people seeking food assistance has increased at United Way’s food bank in Larimore, North Dakota, where visitors can pick the items they want, within certain weight limits, Fuglem said.
The increase “is not so much due to the economy,” she said, “but ‘comfortability.’”
In Larimore, “our food pantry is right across from the senior center,” but senior citizens wouldn’t come in, she said, that is, until the right elderly resident was convinced to use the pantry, became enthusiastic about it, and encouraged others to follow suit.
The stigma that had kept people in need from using the food bank “was broken,” she said. “That stigma piece is kind of gone.”
Another bright spot in the area of food insecurity is the formation and continuing activity of the Grand Forks Food Security Committee, whose members meet monthly to share information, learn about other agencies’ missions, and consider ways to alleviate the food insecurity issue.
That shared knowledge is useful for all.
If someone approaches an agency that, because of policy, cannot help, that agency can refer the person to one that can.
Stacy Narlock, resources manager at the Grand Forks Senior Center, told of a blind man who approached the center; his caregiver had left him. He had been employed until an explosion at work damaged his sight, and he needed more surgeries.
“He literally had a bag of chips,” Narlock recalled. Too young to qualify for assistance at the senior center, he was referred to an agency that could provide support.
Examples like this illustrate “just how connected our community is,” said Mandy Burbank, dietitian with Grand Forks Public Health, who launched the Grand Forks Food Security Committee in the summer 2024, along with a dietitian colleague, McKenna Marek.
This committee is an important tool for those in the social services sector to gain a better understanding of available resources for people in need and “the best resources we can get them to – for food, housing and shelter,” said Mickey Munson, executive director of St. Joseph’s Social Care.
Grand Forks Food Security Committee members are also considering ways to grow more produce by identifying plots where public gardens can be developed to provide produce for area food pantries.
Included in discussions is an area between the new Altru Hospital and Parkwood Place, as well as space near Winship Elementary School and a garden that has been planted in Skidmore Park, both on the city’s north end.
“These are land spaces available for community gardening,” said Shilo Previti, policy lead with Blue Zones Grand Forks.
To address these and other potential responses to food insecurity, Previti and Katy Cavanaugh, horticulturist and landscape supervisor with Grand Forks Park District, participate in the committee meetings.
Cavanaugh has noted that she would like to start a vegetable garden near Northlands Rescue Mission.
Other sites around town are being considered as garden plots where, if volunteers are receiving SNAP benefits and are willing to tend the garden, they can get the vegetables for free, Burbank said. “They don’t have a hoe, but they have want and motivation.”
Another idea that isn’t usually addressed is the potential for funneling excess food from restaurants, funerals, banquets and other special events to those who are food insecure, said Sue Shirek, former executive director of Northlands Rescue Mission.
To realize this goal, laws and regulations may have to change “so the caterer is not liable,” Shirek said.
She envisions, for example, the possibility that large quantities of prepared, but unsold, lasagna could go to disadvantaged people who are living in motel rooms.
At St. Joseph’s Social Care, an individual or family can receive one food box each calendar month, Munson said.
“Definitely, the need is there,” he said. “It’s not uncommon to load a vehicle and see that (people) have already been to Hope (food pantry) or over to the (Northlands Rescue) Mission.”
Education could be part of the answer to stemming the rise in food insecurity, Munson said at a meeting of the Grand Forks Food Security Committee earlier this summer.
Teaching people “so (they) can play out the whole month wisely” could help them avoid a desperate situation, he said.
Eugene Ware, auxiliary captain with the Salvation Army, echoed similar sentiments at the meeting.
Regarding those who are receiving SNAP benefits, he said, “They’re barely making it now.”
He stressed the importance of “teaching them and showing them how to become self-sufficient,” he said. “We want to help people, but not enable them.”
For more information, or to explore ways to get involved, go to
www.livewellgc.org
. To donate funds or food, go to
www.livewellgc.org/support-neighbors-in-need
.
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