caer-food-shelf

Local 4-H Youth Turn Dairy Project into Support for Families

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:04:30 GMT

Thank you Otsego Four Leaves 4-H !

What began in 2025 as a simple desire to help others has grown into a meaningful community partnership. Members of the Otsego Four Leaves 4-H club wanted to find a way to share the milk produced through their dairy cattle projects with families in need. By working with Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, where their milk is processed, they found a creative solution to turn their efforts into food support for local families.

In 2026, the project grew even further when the club received a competitive Minnesota 4-H Food Partner Challenge Grant. The grant funded a large donation of cheese curds made from the milk produced by their dairy cattle projects. Along with the cheese, families receiving the Kids Weekend CAER Packages also received a healthy, family-friendly recipe utilizing the food items.

The club also organized a food drive focused on kid-friendly meals, snacks, and gluten-free items to help round out the packs. These donations are especially important, as about 6-9 families each week rely on CAER’s gluten-free option. For households managing celiac disease or other medically necessary dietary restrictions, gluten-free foods are essential—but often come at a much higher cost, creating an added burden for families already facing food insecurity.

We are grateful for these thoughtful young leaders who found a unique way to nourish their neighbors.

SNAP Benefits Disruption Information

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 20:39:10 GMT

Information and Resources

Beginning November 1 , as many as 440,000 Minnesotans could experience disruptions to their SNAP benefits if a resolution to the government shutdown is not reached.

At CAER, we know this uncertainty is creating stress for many families. We are closely monitoring the situation and working with our partners to form a response to help those impacted. Even a short delay in benefits can make it difficult for families already facing food insecurity, and we want you to know—you are not alone.

If you are a community member who wants to help out during this time of uncertainty, you can find out how you can help .

If your SNAP benefits are delayed or disrupted, continue to use any benefits you currently have available. Food shelves and hunger relief programs across Minnesota are coming together to support families during this time. Please be patient, as local food shelves may experience higher demand in the coming weeks.

CAER will continue to share updates, resources through our website and social media channels: Facebook , Instagram . Together, we’ll work to ensure no one in our community goes hungry during this disruption.

Resources You Can Use:

CAER:

If you cannot schedule online, or see that appointments are full online, call us at 763-441-1020. Our plan to respond to an increase in demand is forming, please be patient and watch for updates.
Remember the Kids Weekend CAER Package is available for pickup without an appointment. It will next be available on Friday October 31, 10:00-12:30, Thursday November 6 4:30-6, and Friday November 7 10:00-12:30.
Please note, due to a previously schedule closure, the Kids Pack will NOT be available on Thursday October 30, and the food shelf will be closed.

General Information:

Find updates from State agencies on status
SNAP/MFIP
WIC
CSFP
If you are a recipient of benefits, keep your contact information up to date with the benefits to be sure you get updates.

Find additional food support programs near you:

Second Harvest Heartland: 2harvest.org/CareCenter – Search the Food Access map or call/text 866-844-3663
Hunger Solutions HelpLine – Call 1-888-711-1151 for local food assistance

Case Questions:

Contact your County Financial Worker for questions about your specific benefits

How You Can Help

During times like this, our community’s generosity makes all the difference. If you’re looking for ways to support your neighbors affected by the SNAP disruption, here are a few meaningful ways to help:

Give financially: Monetary donations allow CAER to purchase the exact food and supplies most in demand. Even a small gift can make a big impact during periods of increased need.
Donate food: Nonperishable, healthy items are always needed. Breakfast cereal, chunky soups, and shelf-stable meals are hardest to source in bulk. You can find our most needed items list here .
Spread the word: Share reliable information about local food resources and encourage anyone affected to reach out for help.
Volunteer your time: Food shelves may experience higher demand in the coming weeks. If you’re able, consider signing up to help. If you're local to Elk River, you can submit a volunteer application on our Volunteer Page to be first to hear about local volunteer needs. If you're elsewhere, you can go to this page to see needs in the hunger relief sector throughout the metro area.
Follow our social media channels and share updates and needs as you see them: Facebook , Instagram , Linked In
You can sign up for our email newsletter to hear updates and needs.

Together, small acts of kindness can help make sure every neighbor has enough to eat, no matter what challenges arise.

Together for Community: The Harvest of Hope Gala - October 30, 2025

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 15:32:00 GMT

An Evening of Community, Compassion, and Hope

On Thursday October 30, neighbors, community leaders, and supporters will gather at the La Fontaine Event Center in Ramsey for the Harvest of Hope Gala—an evening of live music, dinner, and shared purpose. More than just a night out, this event is about coming together to provide support and relieve hunger in our community.

The need is not abstract, it’s local, it’s personal, and it’s growing. Visits to the food shelf at CAER have risen 19% this year alone, as more families struggle with higher costs of living and unexpected job changes. Five years ago, CAER helped about 500 households each month. Today, that number has grown to over 850. These numbers reflect the real challenges of our neighbors, and the real difference your support can make.

We are grateful to our Presenting Sponsor, First Bank of Elk River, and our Platinum Sponsors, The Bank of Elk River and Edward Jones. The leadership and generosity of our sponsors make this evening possible and reflect their deep commitment to community well-being.

The community can support the event in many ways: by attending, sponsoring, donating silent auction items, or making a gift to CAER’s mission. Every contribution helps ensure that no one in our community has to face hunger alone.

Tickets and more details can be found at caerfoodshelf.org/gala

Thank You Sponsors!

Waste Management

Beaudry Oil & Propane

Terra Construction

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

The Connexus Energy Foundation

Dorval and Chorne Financial Advisors

Torque Utilities

Miller Daly Law

North Central Insurance

Plaisted Companies

Stoneworks

Bronze Sponsors

Community Table Sponsors

Dorval and Chorne Financial Advisors

Holy Trinity Church

How CAER Sources Food

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 15:45:33 GMT

If you’ve ever stepped inside CAER Food Shelf, you’ve likely noticed the bright, welcoming space that feels more like a small grocery store than a typical food shelf. That’s intentional. CAER follows a choice model , allowing individuals and families to select the foods that best meet their needs—reducing waste and honoring personal and cultural preferences. It’s all about dignity, flexibility, and creating a positive, respectful experience.

Still, one question often comes up when visitors see shelves filled with fresh produce, dairy, meat, pantry staples, and personal care items:

“Where does all this food come from?”

The answer: a lot of places. Some donated, some purchased. Some rescued from retail shelves, and some grown in backyards or local fields.

Food Rescue

Food rescue is one of the most impactful and sustainable ways CAER stocks its shelves. We partner with local grocery stores—including Coborn’s, Walmart, Aldi, Kwik Trip, and Target —to pick up food that’s still high quality but nearing its “sell by” date.

In 2024 alone, our food rescue team recovered over 500,000 pounds of food—everything from fresh produce and dairy to meat and baked goods.

Every item is carefully inspected and sorted before it ever reaches the shelf—because every family deserves food that’s fresh, recognizable, and safe to eat.

Working with Food Banks and Retailers

Many are surprised to learn that CAER also purchases a large portion of food from trusted partners like Second Harvest Heartland and The Food Group , which operate much like wholesale distributors. Some items are cost-effective, others depend on availability and pricing.

These purchases keep our shelves stocked with essentials—milk, eggs, canned goods, proteins, grains, and more.

We also purchase specialty items from local grocery stores and discount retailers when specific needs arise, helping us offer more diverse and inclusive options to the people we serve.

CAER receives food through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) —a federal initiative that purchases food from U.S. farmers and distributes it through regional food banks, which for CAER is Second Harvest Heartland.

TEFAP typically accounts for about 20% of CAER’s annual food supply , helping us provide proteins, fruits, vegetables, and dairy. Like many federally funded programs, its future depends on evolving government budgets, but it remains a critical part of our food sourcing today.

Locally Grown Donations

Some of the fresh produce you’ll see at CAER comes from local farmers and community gardeners . When available, this seasonal produce adds freshness, nutrition, and often culturally familiar foods to our shelves.

We also gladly accept homegrown produce from local residents during the growing season. It’s a simple and meaningful way for neighbors to nourish neighbors.

Community Donations

One of our most flexible and heartfelt sources of food is you—our community . Whether through food drives, individual drop-offs, or group efforts from schools, businesses, or places of worship, these donations help keep our shelves full.

They also allow for greater variety—offering brands, flavors, and ingredients that help us better reflect and respect the diverse families who shop at CAER.

Even more than that, they show families they’re not alone —that their community cares.

What CAER Needs Most

CAER thrives because of strong partnerships—with volunteers, donors, retailers, food banks, and neighbors. But as food prices rise and federal programs shift , we’re constantly working to meet growing needs.

Sometimes that means getting creative. Sometimes it means being honest: we might be short on peanut butter, rice, cooking oil, or canned fruit—and the only way to fill that gap is with your support.

You can help by:

Donating high-need items (check our website for a current list)
Giving financially—your dollars go further when we buy in bulk
Hosting a food or fund drive with your school, business, or faith group

Let’s Keep the Shelves Full—Together

When you support CAER, you’re doing more than stocking shelves. You’re making nutritious food available, creating a welcoming experience, and ensuring that every visit feels respectful and supportive.

Thank you for being part of this community.

How CAER Helps Reduce Hunger and Food Waste

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 15:45:32 GMT

At CAER, we often talk about the importance of reducing hunger in our community—but there’s another critical part of what we do that doesn’t get as much attention: reducing food waste.

Every day in Minnesota and across the country, grocery stores, food distributors, and households throw away perfectly good food. In fact, it’s estimated that up to 40% of food in the U.S. goes to waste. That’s not just a missed meal—it’s a missed opportunity to feed people and be better stewards of our resources.

A big reason this happens? Confusion around date labels. Most people don’t realize that the “best by,” “sell by,” or “use by” dates on food packaging are not federally regulated and usually have nothing to do with food safety. They’re simply the manufacturer’s best guess for when the product is at its freshest. In reality, many of these items are still safe and nutritious well beyond those dates.

At CAER, we work closely with local grocery stores and food rescue partners to collect surplus items that are still in excellent condition. This includes produce that might be slightly blemished, dairy or deli items nearing their date, and pantry staples that are perfectly fine but overstocked.

We’re proud to get that food into the hands of people who can use it. And we do it with dignity and care—because everyone deserves access to fresh, nourishing food.

The impact doesn’t stop there. When we receive items we can’t distribute—maybe due to quality or quantity—we pass them along to local farmers for use as animal feed. In fact, more than half of the food we can’t use still finds a second purpose, helping sustain local agriculture rather than ending up in a landfill.

Every bag of groceries from CAER represents a win-win: fighting hunger and fighting waste. Thank you for being part of a more just, more sustainable food system.

Food Banks vs. Food Shelves: How We Work Together to Fight Hunger

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 15:45:30 GMT

What’s a Food Bank?

The terms food bank and food shelf are often used interchangeably, but did you know they play very different roles in feeding our community? Think of it this way: food banks are the big-picture providers, while food shelves are the hands and hearts serving people directly.

Food banks—like Second Harvest Heartland and The Food Group —are large, regional hubs that collect and distribute food across wide areas. They gather donations and source deeply discounted food from grocery stores, manufacturers, farmers, and government programs, then store it in massive warehouses until it's ready to go out to local communities.

At CAER, we partner with both food banks to stock our shelves. For example:

Second Harvest provides food through TEFAP, a federal emergency food program.
They also coordinates the food rescue program, where we recover items like produce, meat, and bakery goods from local grocery stores.
We can purchase or receive donated food from both Second Harvest and The Food Group at lower costs than traditional retail.

This partnership helps us stretch every dollar and provide a wide variety of nutritious food to those we serve.

What’s a Food Shelf?

That’s where CAER comes in. As a local food shelf, we’re the community-facing side of hunger relief. We meet with families, seniors, and individuals in Elk River and surrounding areas to provide them with the food and support they need—no giant warehouse required.

Every week, we receive deliveries from our food bank partners. With this, we stock our shelves, coolers and freezers with canned goods, fresh produce, meat, dairy and more. Thanks to this team effort, one grocery cart food a families chooses at CAER can feed faily for 7–10 days or more. This support makes a big difference—families with limited incomes or in a financial crisis may have to choose between groceries and essential expenses like rent, car repairs, or other bills. A visit to their local food shelf can make it possible to cover those costs and still have access to nutritious meals .

You Can Be Part of the Solution

Hosting a food drive is one of the easiest ways to support the local hunger relief network. Whether it’s your workplace, church, neighborhood, or club, your food donations help fill the gaps and keep our shelves stocked with community favorites. If you want to make the most impact for your dollar, a monetary donation to your local food shelf such as CAER will go farther than the same dollars spent at your grocery store. On average, $1 can purchase food for three meals from our sources.

Let’s keep working together—food banks, food shelves, and generous neighbors like you—to ensure no one in our community goes hungry.