Owatonna food shelf operator says increased need will continue into the holidays, new year

NINA MOINI: As we've been hearing this year, food shelves across the country are seeing increased demand, and a new survey carried out by the University of Minnesota Extension and Minnesota-based nonprofit Foundation for Essential Needs provides a closer look at the need. Among the takeaways from the nearly 10,000 Minnesotans who responded this past spring, more than half say they got half or more of all their food from a food shelf.

Dom Korbel is with Community Pathways of Steele County in Owatonna. He's here to tell me more about what he's seeing on the ground, and how he's using these results of the survey to help him stock the shelves. Thanks so much for your time this afternoon, Dom.

DOM KORBEL: Hey, thanks for having me on, Nina. Greatly appreciate it.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. We have been talking about it on this show, and everyone who's paying attention knows just how big of a need there is right now. As you take a look at this survey, I'm sure it's telling you things you already know. What are you looking for as you try to incorporate some of these findings into the food shelf that you oversee?

DOM KORBEL: Yeah, I think the data is really telling, and it helps us dispel myths or get clarity on what our shoppers really, really want us to have available. And so probably the number one thing is we know based on the survey that if you come to a food shelf, you hope to find fresh produce, meat, and dairy as your top priorities. And so when we have to make tough decisions on our budget, that's where we're focusing our dollars, because that's what we know the shoppers want.

NINA MOINI: And that can also be some of the more pricey stuff when people are at the store, right?

DOM KORBEL: Yes, no question. Just in scale to that related to us, 60% of our food budget is on meat alone, even at lower discounted prices. So if we're doing that, so are our shoppers.

NINA MOINI: Wow, that's good to know. So we heard again in recent months about an uptick in need due to uncertainty and changes with the federal assistance program known as SNAP. But this survey was conducted before all of that unfolded, which is important context. So can you give us a sense of what you're seeing in your area, just when it comes to the need in the past couple of months with all of these SNAP changes?

DOM KORBEL: You know, I would say the last couple of months, just for perspective, since November 1 we've had almost 200 new families register with us down here in Owatonna. And after SNAP came back in we thought maybe that would fall off a little bit, but they're still with us. And what they're sharing with us, Nina, is it happened to us once. We were afraid SNAP would be taken away. We're not feeling safe yet. And so we're going to keep coming until that worry of food dispels or disperses a little bit, and so we're just seeing this increase stick with us.

NINA MOINI: Mm-hmm. Give me a little more perspective. I have notes here from our producer that says that you have seen an increase in the last four years. Tell me about the number of families.

DOM KORBEL: Yeah. So I've been in this role for four years as of last week. When I took the job four years ago, we had 350 families visiting our food shelf each week. Today, our six-week average is 1,307 families are visiting our food shelf each week.

NINA MOINI: Hmm.

DOM KORBEL: Yeah. So we're going to distribute over two and a half million pounds of food this year compared to 400,000 pounds just four years ago, and we're not alone. We're not unique here at Steele County. Our rate of growth is a little bit ahead of the state average, but this is a true situation across all of Minnesota as people continue to try to battle hunger.

NINA MOINI: How have your facilities held up? I know some people are running out of room to store products when they're having to deal with so much more need.

DOM KORBEL: We got very lucky timing-wise. Sometimes you do things to be ready for the future. For us, in 2022 we did a 7,000-square-foot expansion, doubling our space. And we did that to be ready for the future. Well, the future was thrust upon us, literally immediately, instantly right in front of us. So we've been able to hang in there. We can continue to meet the demand, even if it grows a bit more. But I know that's not true for all of my peers across the state. We're very fortunate here.

NINA MOINI: Mm-hmm. I see too that some of the survey data helped you adjust some of your hours and some of the other specifics that help people in their day-to-day lives function during this time. Tell me a little about that.

DOM KORBEL: Yeah, one thing I would point out about this survey is this survey and all this data comes to us for free thanks to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota and the Department of Children, Youth, and Family at the State of Minnesota. So that's really key.

So the one thing that we did two years ago, that survey two years ago told us we had a group of families who couldn't get to us during our regular hours and needed evening hours. So two years ago, we added a Tuesday night from 5:00 to 8:00 specifically because of this data. And now we serve about 120 families a week every Tuesday night that we would not be serving effectively otherwise, and the data drove us there.

NINA MOINI: Nice, nice. And I mean, we know that we're heading into the holidays, Dom. We're in the holidays right now. It's Hanukkah. What are you expecting just in terms of demand this time of year, because it probably does go up?

DOM KORBEL: It does. We expect about a 10% increase. That's historically normal, so about another 100 families a week. People are making tough choices about, how can I put that one gift under the tree to help my family or my children in particular feel a little bit normal, and still have access to food? And there are not a lot of other choices out there when it comes to saving money. But you can come to the food shelf if you're battling hunger and we can help fill in that gap, especially during this spike. And our community is what really makes it possible with their donations.

NINA MOINI: Mm-hmm. And tell us just a little bit more, Dom, for someone who has not been or who may be nervous about going but feels like it may be time, can you just talk about, is it confidential, that type of stuff?

DOM KORBEL: Yeah, that's a great point. Another data point in the survey was 70% of all shoppers surveyed said the number one thing was feeling comfortable and safe and welcome when they come to the food shelf. So for us, it's a really simple process. It's called zero barrier to access. Minimal paperwork. Our goal is to have you shopping for food in our environment in 15 minutes or less, if we can, to just let you feel normal and get food as a worry off the list.

NINA MOINI: OK. Yeah, important reminders there. And just as we get ready to head into the new year, another state legislative session will begin. What are you going to be talking about or focusing on this year?

DOM KORBEL: I think this year, for me, it's going to be continuing to advocate for funding for food. We know that if you take away the worry of food, other things can then be focused on. When you're battling hunger, nothing else matters. And I remember the very first person I registered when I took this job four years ago, I was on this little litany of options for them.

And they stopped me dead in my tracks and they said, Dom, until I know that my family and my kids have enough food, nothing else matters, because hunger is paralyzing. So I need our legislators to know that funding for food shelves and food banks is critical, if they want other things to be improved, because people need that worry of food off the list.

NINA MOINI: All right. Thanks so much for coming by and sharing your perspective of what's going on on the ground with us, Dom. Really appreciate your time.

DOM KORBEL: Yeah, thanks for having me.

NINA MOINI: That's Dom Korbel, the executive director of Community Pathways of Steele County.