CROSS Services and Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless announce the Eighth Annual Food Shelf Challenge Grant. Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless will proportionally match donations to CROSS during the month of July, up to $4,000. The more funds CROSS raises in July, the larger the matching grant from Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless will be. In 2017, Minnesota food shelves raised over $1.5 million participating in this grant challenge and hope to raise even more this year.
Minnesota summers were made for trips to the cabin, boat rides on the lake, and farmers market outings, not food shelf visits. But that is the reality for thousands of Minnesotans. Children are home from school and the family budget is tight. CROSS helps provide nutritious fruits and vegetables to these families and needs your help this summer. Donations given in July will be proportionally matched by Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless to help end hunger in Maple Grove, Rogers, Osseo, Dayton, Champlin, Corcoran, as well as those families in a homeless crisis.
Since 1986, Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless has targeted millions of dollars to strategically fight hunger in Minnesota. Open Your Heart funds the purchase and transfer of more than one million pounds of fresh produce, meat, and dairy products to Minnesota food shelves every year.
Food Shelves Fill Empty Plates Every Summer
Food shelves in Minnesota help individuals, families, and seniors get the nutritious food they need but cannot afford to purchase on their own. “The extra help that CROSS offers with the weekly bread, meat and fresh produce visits to the food shelf during the summer helps make it possible for me to stay ahead of all the extra food and money demands when my kids are not in school every day” said a CROSS client.
Summer is especially stressful for both families with children and the food shelves that serve them. In 2017, children made 268,181 visits to food shelves in the summer months. When kids are home for the summer, they are missing out on school meals and food shelves help fill that gap. July is great time to give to CROSS Services.
Did you know that in the last 12 months:
• CROSS distributed more than 1,912,500 meals to people in our community last year
• CROSS distributed 27,000 (108,000 meals) packs of Kidpack – Weekend Food for Kids with the huge support of its Kidpack Partners.
• CROSS volunteers delivered more than 12,600 hot meals through our Meals on Wheels Program.
• CROSS staff & volunteers walked alongside local families through 49,448 Individual Visits to the food shelf.
CROSS supports several programs throughout the year. For information about the food shelves, clothing store, gift shop for children, KidPack – Weekend Food for Kids for area school children, CrossOver Schloarship Program to help kids pursue their passion by providing the opportunity, training and equipment for them to participate in life enriching activities, Peace of Mind Financial Assistance, Meals on Wheels and more, contact CROSS at www.CROSSservices.org or the Facebook page, or call 763-425-1050.
CROSS has been serving families and individuals in the communities of Champlin, Corcoran, Dayton, Maple Grove, Osseo and Rogers for over 40 years.
All donations are tax-deductible. Donating by check? If mailing a payment, send to: CROSS, P.O. Box 574, Rogers, MN 55374. Donating by credit card? Easy 1, 2, 3 – Go to http://crossservices.org/ & Click on “Donate.”