Originally Published art rootrivercurrent.org
By David Phillips, October 27, 2025
At the time of publishing this article, the United States was within days of hundreds of thousands of families losing their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits due to the federal government’s shutdown. In Minnesota alone, according to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’ office, thousands of Minnesotans could lose access to nutrition assistance beginning November 1 which will only exacerbate an already difficult time for families in need. To help bridge the gap, he announced, the state will allocate $4 million in new funding for Minnesota food shelves.
In visiting local food shelves, Root River Current contributor David Phillips has discovered, families across the greater Root River Valley are finding circumstances here just as challenging as across the rest of the state. Here’s his story.
SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA – Local food shelves are reporting increased, even record, numbers of visits in 2025. That aligns with statewide data that shows one in five Minnesota households – more than one in four that have children – is food insecure, according to a study by Second Harvest Heartland, a Minnesota hunger relief organization. The study showed that 18 percent of the state’s population is already supported by the emergency food system.
Several of the region’s cities, even as small as Wykoff, operate food shelves to help those in need. Most rely on volunteers for staffing with funds from donations and grants to stock the shelves.
Food shelf supplies for area communities largely come from Channel One, a regional food bank in Rochester that serves more than 100 programs in southeastern Minnesota.
Although the amount of food insecurity in this region is slightly lower than the state as a whole, Channel One reports that food shelf visits in the area continue to increase rapidly, mirroring state and national trends. The regional food bank served 296,000 households in 2023 and more than 390,000 in 2024.
Record visits to area food shelves in 2025
The Spring Valley Area Food Shelf has seen a 20 percent increase in average household visits through the first nine months of 2025 compared to 2024.
READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE AT THE ROOT RIVER CURRENT
