Restaurants - Food Shelf Donation Resources

24 Mar 2020


Greetings,

Second Harvest Heartland along with many restaurants in our great metro area are teaming up to help feed those in need during these trying times. If your business is in a position to help, Washington and Ramsey Counties want to work with you to help support donations of excess food, space or time to help those in need within our communities.

As concerns around COVID-19 grow, Minnesotans are cooking and eating at home and the hospitality industry is left with an abundance of food and teams with little work. Second Harvest Heartland and a growing group of local restaurateurs are getting creative about the problem, using the quiet kitchens to feed Minnesotans in need. See the full story here.

“The coronavirus has put stress on our industry, so we’re in touch with what it means to go without," said Alex Roberts, Chef-Owner and Alma Café, Hotel & Restaurant. "We don’t have customers for the time-being, but we do have food, we do have chefs, we do have line cooks. Let’s use them to feed folks who need a good meal as we face down the virus. I challenge my many great local restaurant and hospitality partners to join me.”

  • Restaurants with available food should use Meal Connect to donate food to local hunger relief efforts at www.mealconnect.org Second Harvest will pick up the food, providing a pick-up time window. Donations are tax-deductible.
  • Restaurants with available food and/or kitchen space, teams and talent interested in participating should contact Dianne Wortz at dwortz@2harvest.org
  • Businesses that want to donate packaging, cleaning/sanitizing supplies and other non-food items should email donations@chowgirls.net
  • Individuals who want to volunteer their time and cooking expertise should express their interest with an email to volunteer@chowgirls.net

If your restaurant is offering free meals in the community, separately from this effort, please update this map with your site’s information.

Please see our Ramsey County Website for updates on COVID-19.