Mobile pantry's end leaves needy uncertain

A mobile food pantry program that fed hundreds of needy kids and their families in the Twin Cities area will shut down in December, creating uncertainties about how those children will be aided in the future.

"People start lining up at these schools about an hour before the pantry opens," said Hillary Frazey, a volunteer for the program, Meals for Minds. "Some of these kids go home with 30 to 40 pounds of food. That's how great the need is."

Meals for Minds is a national program funded by Target Corp. that delivers food to students in 44 cities across the country.

Locally, the program is administered by Second Harvest Heartland, which has distributed more than 1.4 million pounds of food to students in 11 schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Late last year, Target officials announced the company reassessed the program based on participation rates. Ultimately, none of the Twin Cities schools met the criteria and were notified in May that Meals for Minds would be discontinued.

Target agreed to pay for the program through December while Second Harvest searched for an alternative program, but so far it is not clear whether students in those schools will continue to be served.

Second Harvest Heartland officials said they are confident that they will identify an alternative program to assist students in the schools where the Meals for Mind program is offered.

In coming weeks, he said, the nonprofit will be working with the schools served by the Meals for Minds programs to determine what their specific needs are and get input on what a new program should look like.

"We are absolutely committed to making sure we're not having a gap between what these kids need and what they're getting," he said.

Target officials echoed the company's desire to continue assisting needy local families.

"Target will support the program through December 2014, and we'll continue to work closely with Second Harvest on future programs that could meet the needs of more students," said Kristy Welker, a Target spokeswoman. "We're proud that the Minneapolis and St. Paul Meals for Minds program has delivered more than 1.4 million pounds of food to families in need over the past four years."

Nancy Stachel, principal of Maxfield Elementary in St. Paul, said the Meals for Minds program was unique in that families got to choose what food they wanted and fresh fruit, vegetables and meat were often available, not strictly processed food.

"It's been a great help," Stachel said. "About 98 percent of our students qualify for free and reduced price meals and most receive free meals. So it has a big impact here."

Stachel said she wasn't surprised to learn that Target was pulling its support from the program after the participation rates were established.

She remained hopeful, however, that an alternative program will be found.

"Target did express a desire to support our schools; it just wasn't through this particular program," she said. "Now we need to make sure that we keep the focus on taking care of these families that continue to count on this program."