Newsmakers: PRISM Food Shelf Sees ‘Higher Level of Need Than Ever Before’

PRISM Executive Director Michelle Ness says the Golden Valley food shelf continues to see a higher level of need than they ever have before.

“Hunger Solutions reported 7.5 million food shelf visits last year and that’s what we’re seeing at our food shelf as well–there are a lot of people coming to access the food shelf for the very first time,” said Ness. “A lot of people continue to rely on this as a resources for their basic needs.”

Ness hopes the community can be aware that donations are declining.

“We’ve seen donations from grocery stores and donations from food banks decline,” said Ness. “As grocery stores are running on thinner margins, we can all see and feel the increase in prices of groceries, this in turn that ripple-effect is coming through to us at the ground level to provide food resources to communities in need.”

Food shelves like PRISM are coming off one of their largest food drives of the year, the March FoodShare drive.  

People are welcome to donate or volunteer at any time. Check out prismmpls.org to learn more.

“The need is very real,” said Ness. “While we might feel like we’ve moved on from the pandemic, for families that were struggling before, the pandemic did not help them.”