HOT PURSUIT

As Sunday’s Hometown Sampler drew to a close, Dom Korbel shared how the local food shelf impacts families in need. He signaled out one in particular.

Korbel is the executive director of Community Pathways of Steele County and sees first-hand how families struggle to put food on the table. He told the crowd about how a young woman with three girls under the age of 11 came into the food shelf last July. She had just fled an abusive relationship and needed food.

In his normal caring and passionate self, Korbel dealt with the woman directly and got her set up so she could get food to bring home to her children. He got sidetracked, and a short time later, Korbel noticed something he wasn’t expecting. She wheeled up to the front of the building with an empty cart.

“I feared that we failed her somehow,” Korbel said.

But he dug deeper.

The woman shared with Korbel how the food shelf experience wasn’t at all what she expected. She told him how she felt trusted, respected and shown with great dignity. “I felt like I was normal for a while,” she told Korbel.

And why no food in the cart?

She left without any only to bring her young children back the next day to experience what she had from Korbel and the others at Community Pathways. “They needed to feel normal as well,” she said.

Korbel emphasized that the food shelf is never about getting food, but rather how they treat people and make them feel human.

“It validates how we do it and what we do every day,” Korbel said. “It’s not just what we do, it’s how we do it. It’s making people feel good with a lot of negative things going on in their lives. We want them to feel okay to get help.”

The vision of Community Pathways is to promote a stronger and healthier community by being a trusted resource for food, clothing and other support. The food shelf exists because thousands of friends and neighbors in Steele County rely on help to provide basic needs and resources for their families.

Community Pathways is currently serving 1,100 families every week compared to 850 just a year ago.

This week marks the beginning of March FoodShare Month and runs until April 6. It’s the largest grassroots food and fund drive in Minnesota. It brings together organizations, businesses, faith communities and individuals to help stock and support the capacity of food shelves like Community Pathways and the Ellendale Area Food Shelf.

The food shelf in Ellendale will have a fundraiser at United Methodist Church in Ellendale on March 9.

Food insecurity is real in our communities, and you can help relieve that struggle by donating to the March campaign.

Just like the woman Korbel shared about, food insecurity can hit at any time. It’s how we react that will have a long-lasting impact on people.

I encourage everyone to go in hot pursuit of helping feed America especially during March FoodShare Month.