Food shelf use rises significantly in Minnesota

A new report out Monday shows food shelf use has increased sharply in Minnesota over the past year.

Numbers from the advocacy group Hunger Solutions show visits to emergency food shelves are up about 11 percent in the first part of this year, over the same period last year.

The nine-county metro area experienced the biggest jump, with a 16 percent increase.

Colleen Moriarty, head of Hunger Solutions, said in the decade she's been tracking the numbers, she's never seen an increase like this.

"I think people have run through all their savings, I think people have run through all the emergency cushions, it's taken people a long time to be re-employed, which they never expected, so they're finding themselves in more desperate circumstances," she said.

Many suburban food shelves reported a particularly sharp jump in food shelf visits. Isanti and Dakota counties outpaced the others.