The Northern Valley Labor Council is planning another food giveaway for the public at noon, Thursday, May 20, at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in East Grand Forks.
At the free food distribution event, a semi-truck will deliver 1,300, 30-pound boxes of food, as well as milk, to the church parking lot.
The food, which will be available to anyone, will be distributed via drive-thru pick-up and in a contact-free manner, for public health safety. The driver will be asked how many food boxes and gallons of milk are needed and volunteers will place them in the vehicle.
Drivers may pick up boxes for others, such as people who are shut in at home or who can no longer drive.
Union volunteers and local labor leaders will be handling the food distribution and logistics for the event, said Mark Froemke, president of the Northern Valley Labor Council.
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The free food distribution, part of the USDA Farm to Family Program, will be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. It is intended to ease the financial burden some individuals and families are facing as a result of pressures brought on by the pandemic, Froemke said.
“Anything we can do to help people to fill the gap, we feel very proud, as labor, to do that,” Froemke said. “Whatever we can do to help our larger community that we are part of, we’re proud to do it.”
Event organizers are asking people to take what they need while being respectful of the needs of others.
If any food remains, it will be donated to a local food pantry, Froemke said.
The labor council is sponsoring the giveaway in partnership with the North Dakota AFL-CIO, the Red River Valley Building Trades Unions, and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation.
Several of these events, sponsored by the Northern Valley Labor Council, have been held at local churches and other facilities in outlying communities in recent months.
The Thursday, May 20, food giveaway will be the last one, as the USDA Farm to Family Program concludes at the end of May, Froemke said.
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church is located at 1515 Fifth Ave. NW.
