These volunteers and several others helped with the Food Redistribution held in Sleepy Eye on Tuesday, July 28.

On Tuesday, July 28 from 2:00-5:00 pm, food was distributed to 1728 individuals in 590 households in Brown County. Each household got approximately 45 pounds of food.

The fresh food that was given out could include a meat box, dairy box, and a produce box. The items inside included: MEAT BOX- bacon, chicken patties, and chicken hot dogs. DAIRY BOX- milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese, and/or dip. PRODUCE BOX- lettuce, apples, oranges, carrots, potatoes, and/or onions.

Volunteers for the event included: 10 Sleepy Eye FFA members, 3 FFA advisors, Sleepy Eye FFA Summer Intern, Trinity Lutheran members, Sleepy Eye Food Shelf board members, Mark Thomas Co employees, as well as several community members and the Sleepy Eye Police Department.

Advisor Mary Hoffmann states, “What a great way to give back to the community that has been so wonderful to FFA and our students. We love doing service projects such as this!”

Leisha Martinez, Sleepy Eye FFA Historian adds, “I really enjoyed volunteering for this event because I like spending time with my FFA family and I like to help others in need!”

The food that was given out was part of the USDA Food Box program. The USDA bought it from regional and local distributors who bought it from farmers and didn’t have any place to distribute it because of closings of restaurants due to COVID-19. They partnered with Second Harvest to get it into the hands of those who could use it.