Report: Food Shelf Visits Up Sharply In Minnesota

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. (AP) -- A new report finds food shelf visits up sharply in Minnesota.

Hunger Solutions, which tracks food shelf use in the state, released numbers Monday that show Minnesotans are increasingly seeking help to feed themselves and their families.

In the two years since the nation's economy began to decline, researchers found that visits to food shelves increased 62 percent statewide. In the nine-county Twin Cities area, visits jumped by 97 percent.

Minnesota Public Radio reports the increase is partly due to more frequent visits to food shelves by previous clients. But Hunger Solutions director Colleen Moriarty says food shelves also are seeing new people.

At PRISM, a food shelf based in Golden Valley, case manager Linda Wells says the organization serves about 30 percent more families than it did last year.

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