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Our Mobile or “Pop Up” Food Pantry Programs have supported neighbors for over a decade. They ensure nutritious food where need is high and food resources are low, especially in rural communities. As part of our recent merger, we leaned into neighbor and partner feedback and reviewed our 15-county map to learn where this important resource was most helpful and would ensure equitable food access within our region.

For neighbors like Tammy, your support of our program is important. “This is a big help to me being I lost my daughter to breast cancer, and I now take care of my grandchildren,” she shares. And for John, “I think it’s an incredible thing you guys do with the pantry. Many times, it has just given me hope to know it’s here when I need it.”

Our Mobile trucks pull into communities like Marble, Big Falls, Hurley, and Solon Springs loaded with pallets of shelf-stable and perishable food. Fresh produce, dairy, meat, and other foods are unloaded and set up by our community volunteers. Neighbors register and as they drive through their vehicles are filled with nutritious food.

Thank you for ensuring over 903,000 meals through our Mobile programs to Northland neighbors like Anne who recently shared following our distribution, “This is the best thing to happen to the community since I’ve been here.”

As the Northland’s only “food bank,” we serve an important role in ensuring that nationally and regionally donated food makes its way quickly to our neighbors experiencing food insecurity. Whether it’s a Duluth store like Whole Foods Co-op who has surplus food to share, a Kwik Trip in Moose Lake, or a Walmart in Ashland, your support helps us mobilize donations for many NE Minnesota and NW Wisconsin agency and community partners and neighbors in need.

As Liz Seefeldt, Executive Director of The BRICK Ministries in Ashland shares, “The support facilitated by Second Harvest is invaluable. Donations from Kwik Trip, Super One Foods, and Walmart made up 30% of donations to our Food Shelf Program last year. Our pantry shoppers are assured a well-rounded selection of nutritious foods thanks to partnerships like these.”

In communities near Duluth, we pick up surplus food donations but when our donors are at a distance, we align them directly with a local partner, often one of the 40 area food shelves like The Brick that we support. Our “Fresh Connect Program” shortens the time and distance between food donation and recipient, which ensures fresher, quality food for local families, children, and seniors. A supply made possible by your generous support of us and our work in your local community.