The North Country Food Bank announced last week that they were purchasing a 35,000 square foot facility in East Grand Forks with the hopes of moving by the end of the year. KROX sat down with Susie Novak, the food banks executive director, to answer some of the questions we’ve received over the last week.
A common theme we saw or were asked was about the food shelf in Crookston and the difference between the food bank and food shelf. According to Novak, a food bank covers a large area and distributes food to food shelves and other organizations. A food shelf gets the food directly to the people who need it. “The difference between a food bank and a food shelf is pretty significant,” said Novak. “A food bank acts as a wholesaler. There are only five food banks in the State of Minnesota and have specific territories that we cover. Our territory is from the Canadian border down to Browns Valley which is on the west side of the state but as far south as the Twin Cities. And then we go as far east as Bemidji and Osakis. We source food nationally, regionally, and locally and bring it into our warehouse and then distribute it to 220 charitable organizations that feed people in need. Agencies that get food from us are food shelves, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, the backpack program, those types of things. A food shelf, on the other hand, has direct service to clients. A food shelf is getting the food from us and then distributing that food directly to people who need it.”
In Crookston, the food bank has been the organization operating the food shelf as well. Novak said the food bank hopes to have several meetings over the next few months to identify organizations, entities, or groups that will take over operation of the food shelf before the move. “We’re hoping to have meetings in the next couple of weeks to get organized to set up the food shelf before we leave,” said Novak. “Our hope is by October 1st to have some other organization, entity, or group running the food shelf in Crookston. We’re hoping to collaborate with the United Way and other partners in the community. We’ll have some meetings and invite stakeholders, churches, and other interested organizations to work on getting the food shelf set up. And we’ll help while we’re still in town, so the transition is seamless for hungry people. So, finding a place to operate, people to operate and set up on its own. We intend to help. We have the equipment and things we won’t be using that we will give to whoever is going to handle the food shelf. We want to get it up and operational, so there is no gap for people who struggle with hunger.”
Novak said if they had raised all the money for the new facility and had found a building before breaking ground, they would probably still decide to move. Because using an existing facility rather than building new would save around $4 million to use on food. “We were better than halfway to raise our share to receive $3 million in bonding funds,” said Novak. We were hoping to break ground on a new building here in Crookston next spring. If all things were equal, we hadn’t broken ground and still found a less expensive building, and we could save $4 million-plus. I think given the nature of our work and how important every single dollar is for us, we can provide enough food for five meals with every $1. I think we would still be going with an existing building. Saving $4 million is saving $4 million. It’s never been about having a fancy new building for us. It’s been about having enough capacity and space. We always hoped to acquire an existing building that had all the right elements, so that is the route we would’ve gone. It’s not about having a new facility it’s about having enough space so we can do more work for our organization.”
The property in Crookston was donated, so the food bank will sell that and use the money to offset the cost of purchasing the building in East Grand Forks according to Novak. “The property was donated, and we hope to sell that property and use the funds from the sale to offset the cost of acquiring the existing building,” said Novak. “We will just sell that property and use those funds for the building, so the intent is the same.”
NFCB staff has contacted most major donors to the facility project to discuss the decision to move to East Grand Forks. Novak encouraged any other donors with questions that haven’t heard from them yet to contact the food bank. “Most people who have donated to the building project have been specific that it was going toward the building project,” said Novak. “If they have not designated it for the building project, it’s gone to general operating. We’ve been in contact with almost every major donor to the building project. All of them have been giving us their blessing that they think this is a great idea and are happy we are pursuing a lower-cost option. They think it’s the right move for an organization like ours. If you are someone who has donated to the building project and we haven’t been in contact with you, and you have concerns. You should get in touch with us, and we’d love to have that conversation with you to answer any questions you might have.”
