by Dennis Dalman
Volunteers of the “Fare For All” food-distribution service in St. Joseph will celebrate its 10th anniversary 3:30-5:30 p.m. Monday, March 11 when people arrive at Resurrection Lutheran Church for food that day.
At that church, one Monday every month, the Fare For All service offers four packages of food for anywhere from $10 to $35, depending on which package or packages people request. There is a produce pack (fruits and vegetables, depending on what’s in season), a mini-meat package (four to six frozen meat items), a mega-meat package (five to eight frozen meats), and what’s called a “Hot Buy Pack” (such as brats, hamburger, pound of bacon and more that are very reasonably priced because of high volume purchases by the distributor).
Anyone at all can buy the boxes; there are no specialized criteria for the service. Just show up at the church on distribution day between 3:30-5:30 p.m. No advanced registration is required.
All of the food is packed and shipped from the Fare For All warehouse in New Hope. There are 33 distribution sites in Minnesota, including five in central Minnesota, said Jay Knaeble, who was recently interviewed by the Newsleaders. Knaeble, based in New Hope, is the community engagement specialist for Fare For All.
“We source the foods locally and nationally,” he said. “A sourcing manager finds the best deals in large quantities. It’s truly open to everybody. Volunteers are what make it all possible. We are so grateful to the St. Joseph community for supporting us, hosting us for the past 10 years. Without them and volunteers at the other host sites, we couldn’t do this.”
Fare for All, Knaeble noted, started in 1986 and was once called Fair Share until 10 years ago.
In St. Joseph, Fare For All began 10 years ago with volunteers from two churches: St. Joseph Catholic Church and Resurrection Lutheran Church. Amanda Roles, who was a College of St. Benedict student at the time, helped get the program to St. Joseph when she heard there was a need for a food-distribution program. So she and other members of the Lutheran church had several meetings with members of the Catholic church. Together they researched food options, and that is when they learned of the non-profit Fare for All program.
Roles now lives in Becker and works part-time as a nurse at the St. Cloud Hospital. She and her husband, Tyler, have four children. She had to drop her Fare For All volunteer work about seven years ago because of her busy life.
“It’s a good program,” said Roles in an interview with the Newsleaders. “It’s not just for low-income people. It’s for everybody. For thrifty people. For people who are food-insecure or for someone who wants to participate because it helps so many people all around.”
Roles’ mother, Lori Linn, is still an avid volunteer, a team leader for the group of 15 volunteers and sometimes more. Linn calls the volunteers “the dream team” because they are so passionately committed to their work in helping others. They serve anywhere from 100 to 200 “family units” per month during distribution days at Resurrection Lutheran Church.
The Fare For All food-distribution dates for this year at Resurrection Lutheran Church are the following, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. each date: Feb. 5, March 11, April 8, May 6, June 10, July 15, Aug. 12, Sept. 9, Oct. 7, Nov. 4 and Dec. 2. (A reminder: people can just show up to buy the pre-packed food packs.)
The Fare For All food-distribution program takes place on either the first or second Monday of every month at Resurrection Lutheran Church in St. Joseph. The church is located at 610 CR 2, near the St. Joseph water tower.
