Despite Economic Recovery, No Signs of a Slowdown at Eagan Resource Center

Logic dictates that, with unemployment dropping statewide and the economy slowly recovering, the number of people seeking help at local food shelves would also decline.

But that hasn't happened at the Eagan & Lakeville Resource Centers.

In 2010, the Eagan & Lakeville Resource Center (ELRC) dispensed 384,085 pounds of food to 5,567 local households. Fast forward to 2012, and that number has more than doubled; last year the resource center distributed a total of 854,000 pounds of food to 12,533 households.

Eagan & Lakeville Resource Center Use

“I think things are back on track for people who managed through the economic crisis," ELRC Director Lisa Horn said. "But people who have not managed to get through it, who have faced or are facing foreclosure, who have lost a job or still can’t find one, those families or individuals are lagging behind what the rest of us are feeling."

Traditionally, the bulk of food shelf users are parents with young families, but more senior citizens and young singles have accessing support at the shelter in 2011 and 2012, Horn said.

“I think those smaller households … have gotten to the point where they don’t have a choice," Horn said.

To help address the growing need—and serve those without transportation—the nonprofit resource center rolled out its first mobile pantry vehicle last year.

The brightly-painted food shelf bus dispenses the center's perishable produce and other items at Inver Hills Community College in Inver Grove Heights and Restoration Covenant Church in Apple Valley. At each stop, the mobile pantry distributes nearly 1,000 pounds of food to 18-20 households, Horn said.

Horn plans to add more mobile pantry locations soon. The resource center also plans to purchase a second mobile pantry vehicle in 2014, Horn added.

The mobile pantry partnership between Inver Hills and the ELRC began after the college surveyed its students—and found that 40 percent of respondents on the survey needed food assistance, Inver Hills Director of Service Learning Katie Halcrow said.

Many of the college's students, she added, have children to support—a task that becomes more difficult as the students balance school with one or more jobs.

For that reason, Halcrow said, students at the college may not be affected as much by an economic recovery.

"You’re talking about a family whose breadwinner or one of the breadwinners is taking time out to move themselves up in terms of jobs," Halcrow said.

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