Turn Your 2025 Resolutions into Local Impact
4 Ways to Fight Child Hunger in Minnesota
Is giving back to your community or making a local impact part of your new year resolutions? As you set your goals and intentions with a focus on this for 2025, consider these four impactful ways you can support Every Meal’s work to fill kids’ bellies on the weekends so they have the nourishment they need to learn and grow. There is no better time than the present to make a difference right here in Minnesota.
1. Give your time and talents
From packing food bags at our Roseville warehouse to distributing them directly into children’s backpacks at schools across Minnesota and everything in between, there are lots of ways you can volunteer at Every Meal and give your time and talents to further our mission. Explore the options and see what you can commit to this year.
- Food bag packing volunteer: Join a packing event to pack as many bags as possible with 4-5 pounds of food that’s nutritious, delicious, and relevant. They’re high-energy and high-impact, but fill up fast. Select to “become a fan” to be in the know when spots open up.
- Order builder or tote order prep volunteer: Help us build food orders for delivery to our partner schools. This includes 2-3 hour shifts twice a month and can be a bit of a workout as it involves standing, bending, and lifting 30-pound food boxes. Tote order prep involves transferring food bags from boxes to plastic totes (to prevent critter visitors at some schools from getting a sneak preview of the food.)
- Delivery driver: Drive Every Meal’s van to help us deliver boxes of our food bags to our partner schools within the Twin Cities metro area. Shifts are usually Mondays through Thursdays.
- Weekend Meal Program distribution volunteer: Experience the heart of what we do by distributing food bags directly into children’s backpacks. Get your company, church/faith organization, or community group involved. We’re especially in need of volunteers at schools in Eden Prairie, Bloomington, Coon Rapids, North St. Paul and Anoka.
>> Explore volunteer opportunities
2. Set up a monthly donation
Make it a point to donate in 2025, but turn it into a recurring gift. Just $6/month provides a weekend food bag to a child every month. Monthly donations help us better plan for the future. Plus, you’ll automatically join Every Meal’s Monthly Giving Circle, becoming part of a group of sustaining supporters with special invites to happy hour and food packing events to connect further. Want to set the bar higher this year? Instead of donating a one-time gift of $368, which provides weekend food bags to a child for a whole school year, turn it into a recurring gift of $31/month.
3. Turn your special occasions into meals for kids
Celebrate your birthday, wedding, baby shower, retirement, or life moments by adding a fundraiser to your gift list. Ask family and friends to donate to Every Meal as part of celebrating you. You’ll be helping combine the giving potential of your network to feed kids experiencing food insecurity.
4. Talk about food insecurity with others
Hunger is hard to notice and not easy to talk about. We estimate that over 300,000 kids in Minnesota are experiencing food insecurity. It’s worse for families on the weekends because kids don’t have the school meals they can rely on during the week. The more we talk about this issue and the gaps, the more awareness there is. That creates more connections, more collaborations, more funding, and more resources. And less stigma in our community. How can you start talking about it this year? Share about your experience with Every Meal! If you’ve volunteered with us (see number 1 above), share what you liked or something that impacted you. Share it on social media or in a one-on-one conversation.
>> Tag @EveryMealOrg on Facebook and Instagram or @EveryMeal on LinkedIn