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White Bear Area Food Shelf warns of rising demand, shifts to fresher-food model
Summary
The White Bear Area Food Shelf told the City Council that local demand and statewide food‑shelf visits have risen sharply; the organization described a shift from monthly appointments to more frequent curbside, market and mobile distributions and said it served about 78,000 visitors across programs last year.
Perry Peterson, executive director of the White Bear Area Food Shelf, told the White Bear Lake City Council that hunger in the region has grown and the food shelf has adjusted its operations to meet changing needs. "We're only able to do what we do because of the generosity of our community," Peterson said, noting the organization, founded in 1977, is approaching its 50th year.
Peterson summarized statewide and local trends, saying about "one in five" Minnesota households struggle to afford food and that food-shelf visits statewide were near 9,000,000 last year. Locally, he said the food shelf recorded roughly 78,000 visitors across its programs last year — nearly triple the visits recorded five years earlier — and attributed the rise to a combination of higher housing and food costs and reductions in SNAP benefits. "For every nine meals that SNAP provides, the food-shelf system only supports one," Peterson said, underscoring the limits of emergency food services compared with federal nutrition programs.
The food shelf described how it sources and distributes food: about 56% of distributed food is purchased (primarily through the regional food bank 2nd Harvest), roughly one-third comes from food-rescue partnerships with local grocery stores, and additional federal TFAP items are coordinated by 2nd Harvest. Peterson described three distribution models in use: curbside pickup at Whitaker, a community market opened in 2024 (about 150 visitors per day), and mobile markets that serve senior facilities, Century College and apartment complexes.
Peterson also detailed the kid-pack program, which provides weekend food packs to "about 325 to 330 kids each week," and said the food shelf operates with a 15-person staff and roughly 250 unique volunteers per month, generating about 20,000 volunteer hours annually. He said the organization has added services and adapted scheduling since COVID to reduce barriers to access, including virtual wait lists and proxy shopping to allow neighbors or caregivers to pick up food for homebound residents.
Council members thanked Peterson and acknowledged close coordination between the food shelf and city staff. Peterson encouraged donations and volunteer engagement and promoted an upcoming fundraiser, the Heartbeat for Hunger beach concert at Ramsey County Park on Aug. 1, which the food shelf is using to support operations.
