samd@pillsburyunited.org

Thanksgiving meals and turkey giveaway events across Minnesota

Whether you need a holiday meal or want to lend a helping hand, various organizations across the Twin Cities metro area are hosting giveaways to ensure everyone has food for Thanksgiving. From free turkeys to full meal packages, check out the list below for locations and times to help make this holiday season brighter for those in need. All meals are offered while supplies last.

Don’t Shoot Guns, Shoot Hoops 100 Turkeys Giveaway
When: Nov. 20 · 11 am
What: Don’t Shoot Guns, Shoot Hoops will give out 100 turkeys at George Floyd Square while supplies last.
Where: 38th & Chicago Ave. S., Mpls.
More info: www.facebook.com/waitehouse 

Pillsbury United Communities Community Dinner
When: Nov. 21 · 5-7 pm
What: This event offers food, music, games, and a fun opportunity to connect with neighbors, families, and friends.
Where: Waite House, 2323 11th Ave., S., Mpls., MN, 55404; dining room (2nd floor)
More info: www.facebook.com/waitehouse 

River Heights Thanksgiving Giveaway
When: Nov. 22 · 7:30 pm; Saturday, Nov. 23 ·12:30 pm
What: River Heights is hosting an annual giveaway where community members can get what they need for a Thanksgiving meal. Gently used clothing will also be offered. No registration is required.
Where: River Heights, 6070 Cahill Ave., Inver Grove Heights
More info: bit.ly/RiverHeightsThanksgivingGiveaway

Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway
When: Nov. 23 · 10 am – 12 pm
What: This annual, free drive-through giveaway returns to offer families a turkey on a first-come, first-served basis. No registration is needed.
Where: 810 W. 31st St., Mpls.
More info: www.joycommunityservice.org

Life Center Thanksgiving Outreach
When: Nov. 23 · 12 pm
What: Life Center’s annual Thanksgiving outreach event offers community members a hot Thanksgiving meal and 200+ frozen turkeys.
Where: 1812 Park Ave., Mpls.
More info: bit.ly/ThanksgivingOutreach2024

Tru Breed MC’s 14th Annual Turkey Giveaway
When: Nov. 23 · 1 pm
What: Tru Breed Motorcycle Club is once again giving back to the community with a turkey giveaway (while supplies last).
Where: Folwell Park, 1615 N. Dowling Ave., Mpls.
More info: https://bit.ly/3OdYA3z

FOCUS Minnesota Thanksgiving Dinner
When: Nov. 24 · 5-6:30 pm
What: Community members are invited to enjoy a dine-in or take-out Thanksgiving dinner.
Where: 550 Rice St., St. Paul
More info: www.facebook.com/FOCUSMN

Thanksgiving Distribution Registration
When: Nov. 26 · 9 am – 12 pm
What: Registration for Union Gospel Missio’s Thanksgiving food distribution is full, but leftover food will be offered after distribution day on a first-come-first-served basis starting at 9 am.
Where: Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities – Men’s Campus, 435 University Ave. E., St. Paul
More info: secure.qgiv.com/for/thanks20

White Bear Area Food Shelf Thanksgiving’s Give A Gobble
When: Nov. 26 ·  2 pm
What: Registration is full, but all unclaimed meals will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis without prior registration beginning at 2 pm.
Where: 1884 Whitaker St., White Bear Lake
More info: whitebearfoodshelf.org/2024

Loaves & Fishes Community Meals
When: Nov. 27 (times listed below)
What: Dine-in and to-go community meals
Where:

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church (to-go meal)
1390 Larpenteur Ave. E., Saint Paul
5:30 – 6:30 pm

Saint Paul Opportunity Center (to-go meal)
422 Dorothy Day Place, St. Paul
4:30 – 5:15 pm

True Foundation Church (dine-in and to-go meal)
5840 Lilac Dr. N., Brooklyn Center
5:30 – 6:30 pm

More info: loavesandfishesmn.org

Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities
When: Nov. 28 · 11:30 am –1 pm
What: Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities will offer a special dinner for Mission residents and community members.
Where: Men’s Campus – 435 University Ave. E., St. Paul
More info: bit.ly/UGMTCThanksgiving

Daily Work and Shobi’s Table Gratitude Feast Free Thanksgiving Meal
When: Nov. 28 · 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
What: Enjoy traditional Thanksgiving food and additional dishes for cross-cultural inclusion.
Where: Christ On Capitol Hill, 105 University Ave. W., St. Paul
More info: Facebook or email events@shobistable.org

8th Annual Community Thanksgiving Meal
When: Nov. 28 · 12-3 pm
What: This community meal is not just for those in need but for anyone without a place to go on Thanksgiving Day. Come share in a delicious, free meal with your neighbors.
Where: Fellowship Church, 707 Commerce Dr., Woodbury
More info: bit.ly/FellowshipChurchThanksgiving

Third Annual Buffalo Community Thanksgiving Meal
When: Nov. 28 · 12- 5 pm
What: Hope Community welcomes a free traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, rolls, and pie. All are welcome.
Where: 206 2nd Ave., Northeast Buffalo
More info: bit.ly/ThirdAnnualBuffaloThanksgiving 

StartAnew Thanksgiving Dinner
When: Nov. 28 · 1:30-4:30 pm
What: StartANew’s annual dinner is open to all. Bring family and friends; registration is not required.
Where: 1119 Morgan Ave. N., Mpls.
More info: 612-389-0008 or bit.ly/StartAnewThanksgiving

Discounted Groceries
Fare For All
$35 Thanksgiving Holiday Pack
No registration required
More info: For locations, call 763-450-3860 or thefoodgroupmn.org/groceries/pack

samd@pillsburyunited.org

Brian Coyle Center Food Shelf selected as 2025 SEED Recipient

Pillsbury United Community’s Brian Coyle Center Food Shelf has been selected as a recipient of the Seward Co-op 2025 SEED program. Since 2011, Seward’s SEED program has allowed customers to “round up” their grocery bills to support organizations that align with Seward’s mission of promoting a healthy community.

Located in the heart of Minneapolis’s Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, the Brian Coyle Center Food Shelf offers nutritious and culturally affirming food to Black, Brown, low-income, and immigrant households. It will be the featured SEED recipient in March 2025.

Other 2025 SEED recipients include Southside Foodshare, Daryeel Youth Services, RECLAIM, Little Earth Residents Association, Twin Cities Food Justice, Dream of Wild Health, and Avenues for Youth.

 

Joe Eichele

A Series of Immersive Cultural Events

September was a month of celebration of food and culture at the Brian Coyle Center thanks to “We Are Cedar Riverside”, an event series that invited any and all people from across the city to attend cultural immersion workshops hosted at the community center. The event included a series of workshops based around Somali, Oromo, and Native American cultures – three cultures that heavily populate the neighborhood of Cedar Riverside. The series also included Brian Coyle’s annual Multicultural Dinner, which hosted over 700 people and featured food from local restaurants and performances.  

Things kicked off with the Somali Cultural Immersion Workshop on September 9th. Members who attended were provided a rich history of the country of Somalia and its people by a representative from The Somali Museum of Minnesota. Artifacts and textiles from the museum were included in the presentation to show off the country’s beautiful art. After the event, participants were given a feast of Somali foods and flavors provided by local vendors.  

At the Oromo Cultural Immersion Workshop, Dr. Hussien Kedir Kelil of African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS) led a highly informative lecture on Oromia and what life is like for the Oromo people. Dr. Kelil is a PhD holder and an Associate Professor of Policy and Leadership and is a prominent and exceedingly respected influential personality among the Oromo people His presentation illustrated how Ethiopia is widely regarded as a unique and incredible place. The crowd was captivated to learn that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. Spectators got to try Ethiopian cuisine after the event and engaged in discussions about what they had learned.

The Native American Cultural Immersion Workshop wrapped up the series with a presentation from Jennifer Webber an Oklahoma Choctaw Tribal descendant as well as our Youth Operations Manager at Pillsbury United Communities, and Dancina Warner, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate. Their presentation focused on the history, culture and current events of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and Dakota Tribes located in the state of Minnesota. It provided exposure to the culture, spirituality, and communities so that audience members could listen to their experiences and feel more educated.  

One of the most anticipated events of the series and of the year was the Multicultural Dinner. This beautiful Fall evening took place on September 21st and consisted of food, performances, and cultural celebration. Lines of food were set up in Brian Coyle’s gymnasium for community members to walk through and dish up a variety of different cuisines. Once their plates were full, they transitioned outside towards rows of tables which were set up to drive conversation and discussion. Performers representing Somali, Native American, Ecuadorian, and Oromo cultures got up on stage to dance while groups gathered by the stage to enjoy. The evening concluded with lots of warm smiles, full bellies, and a rejuvenated sense of community among neighbors.  

Thank you to everyone who came and participated in this year’s workshops and dinner. Events like these are so special when we get to share them with members of our community. Thank you to all the volunteers who put forth their time and energy to serve plates, greet faces, and decorate Brian Coyle Center. Lastly, thank you to our sponsors who helped put on this event and make this year’s annual tradition one of the best it’s ever been.  

Becca Tripp

Hydroponics: The latest fad in food or the future of agriculture?

“Hydroponics: The latest fad in food or the future of agriculture?,” MPR News, 6/2/22

Becca Tripp

Support Foodshare Month!

At Pillsbury United Communities, we are working to create a long-term solution to food insecurity while meeting the most urgent needs of community. In 2021, we gave away close to 2 million pounds of fresh produce and nutritious ingredients tailored to the unique cultural tastes of our East African, Latin, and Indigenous neighbors. We couldn’t do it without your support. All donations to our food shelves through April 10 will receive a partial match from our partners at Minnesota FoodShare.

 

To make a monetary donation, visit:

https://pillsburyunited.org/foodshare22/

samd@pillsburyunited.org

Data science, human services elevated within Pillsbury United leadership

An update from our leadership team

Pillsbury United Communities is pleased to announce several key moves in the agency’s executive leadership team, including the creation of a new executive-level position centered around data science and evaluation.

Tsega Tamene has stepped into the newly established role of Head of Data Science & Evaluation. In this role, she stewards Pillsbury United’s vision and strategy to activate data for impact—transforming how the agency defines, captures, and implements data toward systems change. She previously served as Senior Director of Population Health.

“Data will drive the evolution of our organization and our transformative impact in community,” says Adair Mosley, President & CEO of Pillsbury United Communities. “Pillsbury United Communities seeks to have a population-level impact on systems that create more equitable and just outcomes for our communities. Tsega, with her population health background, will drive upstream change and targeted and predictive program and services.”

Accompanying this new role, several additional Pillsbury United leaders have been named to new or elevated roles.

Ethan Neal has been named to the newly created position of Director of Food Systems. In this role, he oversees all of the agency’s food programs, including food shelves, community meal programs, and urban agriculture, and he drives all of the agency’s efforts towards the creation of a local, sustainable, equitable food system. He previously served as Food Systems Manager.

Awol Windissa has been named to the position of Director of Community Health. In this role, he oversees all community health and wellness programs, with a particular focus on removing barriers to health; promoting wellness; reducing disparities; and implementing place-based, community-centered and culturally-relevant approaches. Awol previously served as Community Health Manager at Brian Coyle Center.

Additionally, current leadership team members Miski Abdulle and Vickie Besch have received promotions to Director of Immigrant Services and Director of Community Accessibility, respectively.

Click here to view Pillsbury United’s strategic framework and learn more about our agency’s strategic priorities.

samd@pillsburyunited.org

Food shelves meeting the challenge of COVID-19

Food shelf worker distributing produce to community members

As we reach the first anniversary of COVID lockdowns, it’s worth looking back at the vital response of our food shelves at Brian Coyle Center and Waite House—and the huge efforts they’ve undertaken to show up for the communities that have been hit the hardest in our city.

It’s hard to fathom the scale of their effort. When the first wave of stay-at-home orders began, our food shelves were serving more than three times their usual volume. We were serving more households, and more frequently, than ever before. We kept up that pace all year—and by the end of December, we had distributed nearly one million pounds of food to our neighbors.

“What we have to understand is the operational context of that volume,” says Ethan Neal, Director of Food Systems at Pillsbury United Communities. With changes to the food shelf’s operational model to facilitate social distancing, staff took on a more active role in packaging and distributing food to clients. “That’s a lot of pounds of food on the backs of our people,” Ethan says.

This was a truly unprecedented effort for Pillsbury United Communities. Here’s more about how we stepped up to the challenge—and how you can help us continue this work in 2021 and beyond.

A creative approach in times of crisis

Social distancing guidelines required our team to physically reimagine our food shelves—finding new spaces, and creatively repurposing others. At Waite House, the food shelf team expanded to utilize space in an unused gymnasium.

“We started seeing such an influx in the number of people we were serving,” Ethan says, “That we needed to stretch our legs and utilize one of the largest properties in Minneapolis Parks & Rec.”

And with the lockdowns also affecting our neighbors’ access to essential hygiene items, our food shelves significantly expanded their offerings of diapers, feminine hygiene products, and other household necessities. At Brian Coyle Center, we partnered with our neighbors across the street at Mixed Blood Theatre to organize essential supply drives as a supplement to our food assistance.

“We became much more than just a food shelf,” Ethan says, “and I think that evolution was important in our response.”

Justice and equity in food access

And while COVID-19 forced our team to think creatively and reimagine their work, it also underscored the importance of several long-standing commitments for our agency’s food programs.

“When you think of a food shelf, you think of a model that’s based on canned food drives,” Ethan says. “At Pillsbury United, we’ve pledged a lot of our dollars to source healthy, culturally specific foods to serve our communities.” That means more access to fresh produce, as well as culturally relevant staples that reflect the tastes of our Native, Latin American, and East African neighbors.

“[As an agency] we talk about food justice and equity,” says Jovita Morales, food shelf coordinator at Waite House. “And if we don’t reflect our diversity in our food shelves, that’s not equity.”

“And you don’t see that everywhere,” adds Luz Francisco, building and volunteer coordinator at Waite House. “People in the community can come to us and know that we have foods they’ll want to eat.”

This approach was central to our work pre-COVID, and only became more urgent in response to the pandemic. To that end, we redoubled our commitment to urban agriculture across our entire food system and installed a walk-in cooler at the Waite House food shelf to house more fresh produce. And for those culturally specific preferences that our food bank partners couldn’t meet, we established new relationships with local, minority-owned grocery stores to help fill the gap.

How you can help

There is so much more to be said about the vital response of our food shelves and our many other staff providing essential, frontline services.

Today, you can help support this work with a financial contribution. During the month of March, our partners at Minnesota FoodShare are offering a partial match for all donations to Pillsbury United food shelves. If you’re able, please give today. 

Food assistance is available via the food shelves at Waite House and Brian Coyle Center, as well as via our community meal programs at Waite House and Oak Park Center. 

samd@pillsburyunited.org

Inside hydroponic farming at North Market

If you’ve visited North Market recently, you may have noticed a new neighbor in our parking lot. In partnership with Freight Farms, we’ve installed a hydroponic farm on-site, providing a year-round growing environment that will supply North Market shoppers with local, fresh greens and herbs.

But when we say that the Freight Farm at North Market is a “self-contained hydroponic growing environment,” what does that actually mean? What’s happening within these corrugated metal walls? What is the journey of a seed as it makes its way to the North Market produce aisle?

Step 1: Germination

The first step in the life of a plant is germination. We plant our seeds in a specialized “grow plug” made of coconut husk and peat moss. This eco-friendly growing material keeps its shape and holds water better than traditional soil, making it a better fit for our specialized hydroponic drip system.

Once the plug has been seeded, it is soaked in water and placed under red-and-blue LED lights. Our seeds require a lot of light at this stage—19 hours of sunlight every day over the next week—and the farmer closely monitors the growing environment to maintain an ambient temperature of 70° F.

Step 2: The Nursery

After seven days, our seeds have sprouted, and it’s time for their first move. Our baby seedlings are relocated to the upper level of the harvest table, which doubles as a nursery. Here, the tiny sprouts are watered every 12 hours with a special nutrient-rich solution to ensure they are free of disease and can begin to grow strong roots.

The baby plants continue to receive 19 hours of artificial sunlight per day. Depending on the particular crop, a seedling can spend anywhere between 2-4 weeks growing in the nursery before it’s ready for the next stage.

Step 3: Growing

Once a seedling has matured, it’s time to transplant. The young crops are carefully removed from their seed trays and transplanted to vertical grow towers. These grow towers take up the majority of space inside the Freight Farm. Each plant is carefully spaced out to avoid the spread of algae, insects, and plant diseases.

Although the grow towers are made of plastic, a felt wicking strip in the center allows water to drip down and hydrate the crops. The interior of the Freight Farm holds 256 vertical towers, each of which holds approximately 16 plants—meaning that the combined grow-area of the Freight Farm equals approximately 2-3 acres of outdoor field space.

Step 4: Harvest

Finally, after three weeks in the grow towers, it’s time to harvest. The farmer uses a special harvest knife to remove the plant from the tower. Although this is the shortest step, it requires very careful planning on the part of the farmer. Ideally, when one plant is harvested, a new seedling is ready to take its place in the grow tower. This ensures a steady supply of fresh produce for North Market shoppers.

After a quick inspection to ensure the plant is ready to go, the produce is packed and transported across the parking lot for sale at North Market.

Did you know?

  • The interior of the Freight Farm is climate-controlled, meaning that plants can grow year-round—from the hottest summer day to the coldest winter night.
  • The Freight Farm is slightly tilted! While it’s not noticeable to the farmer, the very slight (3°) angle allows for any excess water to drain back into the Freight Farm’s storage tanks. Reverse-osmosis filtering helps purify the water, making it safe once again for human (and plant) consumption.
  • The Freight Farm interior is equipped with 4 Bluetooth speakers, allowing the farmer and seedlings to listen to music all day.
  • “Daytime” for our crops actually takes place at night! The Freight Farm’s LED lights create a lot of heat and can damage the farmer’s eyes without special protective glasses—so it’s easier to run the lights during nighttime hours, when the farmer isn’t present. By using the majority of our electricity at night, we also reduce the farm’s operating costs.

meghanm@pillsburyunited.org

Youth step up to serve community elders in midst of pandemic

Despite the challenging times we find ourselves in, there is always hope to be found in the selflessness and creativity of neighbors going the extra mile. That’s certainly the case in Cedar Riverside. Since the beginning of Ramadan, 20+ youth organized by the Brian Coyle Center have been delivering more than 200 meals every night to elders, those with limited mobility, and folks who are self-isolating and residing in the neighborhood towers. After a long day of fasting, a warm meal—and a connection with a friendly volunteer—is the perfect opportunity to bridge the social distance.

The Cedar Riverside Community Response Team was first envisioned by a local neighborhood association, the Cedar Riverside Community Council. It was a natural partnership opportunity for Brian Coyle Center, which took the lead in engaging and rallying neighborhood youth volunteers to make the deliveries. The meals are provided by Afro Deli restaurant, and Mixed Blood Theatre has generously provided supplies and space for the team.

While the meals have been warmly welcomed by those 200+ individual community members, the experience has also impacted the youth who are making deliveries. One volunteer, Zubeda, said, “I felt happy fasting and giving back to our elders. It just made me happy and I want to come do it again and again. Hopefully you guys will catch me here a lot more.”

Another volunteer, Akbal, spoke to the opportunity for cross-generational connection:

“Something that’s very important for youth is having this moment to connect with our elders. There’s a huge disconnect between the youth and elders and it may be culture or language. This is the perfect time to learn from them and show them that we care.”

We continue to draw inspiration from our youth volunteers who are stepping up each evening to serve their neighbors—to say nothing of all the partners involved in this, without whom this would literally not be possible. In the midst of uncertainty, it is our honor to stand in partnership alongside others who are committed to seeing our community through this. To all our friends and neighbors who are celebrating—Happy Ramadan!

If you or someone you know residing in the Cedar Riverside towers would like to request a meal delivery, please call 401-285-9247. Please note that this delivery program is reserved solely for elders, people with disabilities, and those who are immuno-compromised.

samd@pillsburyunited.org

A day in the life of a community chef

Meals being served at Oak Park community cafe

For the chef at a Pillsbury United Communities community café, the work of preparing a nutritious community meal is an all-day affair. At Oak Park Center, which offers free community dinners Tuesday-Thursday, the chef’s day typically begins around 10 a.m. The chef begins their morning by looking through recent donations and taking stock of the inventory in the fridge. Once the chef knows what they have on-hand, they can begin crafting a menu for the evening. 

With different ingredients available every day, developing the evening’s menu can require some creativity and experimentation. Every day’s menu is different. The chef has to create a balanced meal that incorporates whatever ingredients they have available, using as many fresh ingredients as possible, in a manner that minimizes food waste. “The number one thing that I look at is vegetation,” says Demetria Fuller, head chef at Oak Park. “Second, I make sure that we have a good starch and protein option. But I start with the vegetables, because we always have a lot of vegetables.” Spaghetti is a favorite with many of Fuller’s regulars; by using eggplant instead of beef in the pasta sauce, she can provide a vegetarian-friendly alternative that even the meat-eaters crave. 

Once the menu is set, meal preparations get underway for the evening around 11 a.m. The chef usually starts with the salad course. Whenever possible, ingredients for the salad are sourced from community gardens at Oak Park and Waite House, which are managed by the Pillsbury United urban agriculture team. Additional produce donations will also arrive from North Market, as well as other community partners. Salad can be kept refrigerated through the day, so it’s an easy task to get out of the way while the café is relatively quiet—all the better to ensure it doesn’t get missed in the commotion as dinner-time approaches. At this time, the chef also begins heating up the steam wells that keep food warm for community café patrons. 

Meal prep continues with the entrees and sides through the afternoon. Typically, a community dinner at Oak Park will serve 50-60 people over the course of a night—but just to be careful, the chef will plan for 70-100 attendees. That way, nobody goes hungry. For tonight’s meal, taco bowls, Fuller is dicing and seasoning chicken, and preparing huge quantities of rice, beans, and corn. At this scale of food preparation, the chef has to carefully manage multiple timers to ensure that nothing burns and everything is ready on time.  

At Oak Park Center, doors open for dinner at 4 p.m., and a handful of enthusiastic community members are usually waiting by the door a few minutes early. Whenever possible, the chef will greet visitors as they arrive. This helps ensure the space is welcoming to all who come through the door. “This is a safe space, with no drama,” Fuller says. “Everybody can come here [and know that] you’re somebody here.” Easy access to the chef also lets community members share their unvarnished feedback about the evening’s menu, which helps inform future meal planning. Dinner service runs until 6 p.m., with the chef remaining on-hand in case any items need replenishment or any issues arise in the dining room. 

Around 6 p.m., the chef begins to close out for the evening. They first put away any leftover food and ingredients; anything that won’t keep in the fridge gets sent home with neighborhood center staff to prevent it going to waste. Then they gather dishes to wash. Trash is taken out, and surfaces get wiped down in the dining room and kitchen. By 8 p.m., the café is cleaned and ready for the next day’s activities. 

Although the chef’s work is sometimes challenging, it matters deeply to the community members who rely on the community café for a warm meal, a safe space, and an opportunity to connect with friends and neighbors. For the chef at a Pillsbury United Communities café, every day is another chance to nourish their community. 

meghanm@pillsburyunited.org

Growing food as medicine

Community member in urban garden

“Food from the earth,” is what Jessica Thurin, Dietician at the Native American Community Clinic (NACC), referred to it as. As members of an indigenous-led network of organizations in South Minneapolis’ Phillips community working towards healthy food access, the 24th Street Urban Farm Coalition, we’re trying out something new this year: going back to the basics. Back to the earth. Back to traditional methods of healing and nourishing by focusing on food as medicine.

NACC, located just two blocks from our Waite House Community Center, provides a range of healthcare and social services to the surrounding, largely Native community. In an area with significant health disparities, recognizing the role food access has to play in determining health outcomes is critical. Many healthcare institutions might talk to their patients about the benefits of healthy eating without really recognizing or addressing the barriers that exist to do exactly that—where to find this food, how to afford it and access it. That’s why our urban agriculture program teamed up with them to begin providing boxes of freshly grown vegetables to their patients. This produce, grown right in their own neighborhood, will be sold to NACC and distributed to their diabetes groups starting this September free-of-charge in an effort to promote healthy eating and lower blood sugar levels.

“You can be taking all these diabetes medications, but if you have a high carbohydrate diet with breads and pastas and not having a lot of non-starchy veggies which is what is from the garden—that can really cause high blood sugars. And so medications can help, but it’s not everything…I think introducing more foods that are right in our backyard can really help prevent some of these chronic diseases and that’s really what we’re after,” Thurin explains.

And NACC isn’t the only place recognizing the power of food in this way. With another one of our gardens, this is our second year of providing CSA packages to the City of Minneapolis’ Lead and Healthy Homes program. Families are referred to their program when elevated lead levels have been detected within their body, after which they are moved to transitional ‘Safe Houses’ while their homes are removed of lead hazards. While in these safe homes, families receive visits from public health nurses as well as deliveries of our food boxes packed full of freshly grown kale, broccoli, collards, and more. The reasoning, Jim Doten, Environmental Services Supervisor for the City’s Health Department, explains, is because “there’s a link between nutrition and susceptibility to lead poisoning.” If someone is deficient in certain nutrients, especially iron, then their body is more likely to absorb lead. So with this program in particular, our farmers are purposely growing more iron-rich foods that are proven to prevent further lead absorption while also lowering existing levels in the body. Alex Vollmar, supervisor of this program, sees the addition of these CSA boxes as a “very holistic approach to responding to elevated blood levels.”

Back to the basics. Remembering how for thousands of years, indigenous communities have used food for nourishment and healing. It’s something that’s often overlooked now, but so necessary to address in order to close health disparities. As members of the 24th Street Urban Farm Coalition, we look forward to continue moving this work forward alongside NACC, Indian Health Board, and other coalition members. Thurin says,

“Food is medicine. I don’t think a lot of people know that. But our ancestors definitely did that. They used food as medicine. They used traditional medicine plants. I really think that’s important to bring that back now.”

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