Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless has announced the launch of the 17th annual Open Your Heart Summer Challenge grant. This grant opportunity provides participating food shelves in Minnesota with a matched grant proportional to the food shelves’ fundraising activities throughout the month of July.
Last year Minnesota food shelves reported more than nine million visits, setting a new record. When school is out, food shelf demand peaks and at the same time food shelf donations dip to their lowest. OYH’s Summer Challenge aids in bridging this gap by increasing awareness of local food shelves and harnessing the power of collective giving by providing matching grant opportunities so that households have the support they need during the hungriest months of the year.
By leveraging the Open Your Heart Summer Challenge grant, food shelves across Minnesota typically raise over $2 million in local fundraising in the month of July. In 2025, 83 food shelves across the state of Minnesota participated in OYH’s Summer Challenge. Together, raising $2.4 million dollars to keep shelves stocked and Minnesotans fed.
The Challenge grant presents a matching fund opportunity for food shelves, including Hill City Area Food Shelf allowing it to maximize local fundraising efforts in July. The distribution of funds from this grant is based on the total funds raised by each participating food shelf in July and the number of food shelves involved, with grants ranging from a minimum of $150 to a maximum of $4,000. This year the Summer Challenge and the World Cup overlap so the theme for this year’s campaign is “Kicking Hunger Together.”
For a list of the 2026 Open Your Heart Summer Challenge food shelf participants, visit https://oyh.org/summer-challenge. For more information visit www.oyh.org.