Hunger

Whether they are a block away, or on the other side of the world, God urges us to feed those who are hungry. Gloria Dei responds by collecting for our local food shelves, by cooking meals for shelters, by garden shares and by sending financial support. Join us! Hunger outreach efforts offer a unique opportunity to engage and teach your entire family – from the oldest to the youngest children – the importance of helping our local and global communities.

HUNGER OUTREACH PROGRAMS

Gloria Dei gathers groceries regularly for our neighbors who are hungry. We support the following food shelves:

Neighborhood House Food Market
Located here in Highland Park, Neighborhood House Food Market serves over 1,500 individuals in our local neighborhood including many new immigrants. Each year we have a special month-long collection for for the market as part of the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign. You will find large, red containers at our parking lot entrance accepting donations any time.

Keystone Food Market
The Keystone Basic Needs Program helps feed the hungry and assists people in crisis in a large service area in Ramsey County — from downtown St. Paul to Roseville, from Little Canada to the Midway and the North End neighborhoods of St. Paul. We do a special collection each year around Thanksgiving to support Keystone Food Market.

On the fourth Wednesday of even-numbered months, volunteers from Gloria Dei feed those who are hungry at the Dorothy Day Center in downtown St. Paul (183 Old 6th St. W.). In less than 90 minutes, we feed approximately 325 people!

One team of volunteers gathers from 1:30-3:00 pm, to prepare a nutritious meal. A second team arrives at 4:00 pm to serve the meal to the guests. Volunteer and serve just one time to learn about how to feed the hungry, or join us as often as six times per year. Sign up.

What is the Weekend Backpack Program?

Gloria Dei has partnered with Highland Park Elementary (HPE) School for nine years to provide nutritious food for children, so they get enough to eat on weekends. Nearly 60% of children are eligible for free lunch and teachers see a real need for the Weekend Backpack Food Program. This is a tangible way to help reduce childhood hunger in our neighborhood.

Non-perishable, nutritious food is purchased from The Food Group (formerly the Emergency Food Shelf), Costco, Aldi and Target and stored at Gloria Dei.

Weekend Backpack Program 2024-25
We are gearing up for a great school year, packing and delivering bags of healthy foods to Highland Park Elementary students on Fridays. This ensures they have food for the weekend, so they come back to school on Mondays ready to learn!

The Sunday School Children will be packing bags every other Sunday during Sunday School.

What does the Weekend Backpack Program need this year?

Volunteers:

1. Help set up food in Room 100 and help the children pack bags on Sunday mornings. For more info contact Angie Sherwood.

2. Meet at church at 9 a.m. on Fridays (some Thursdays) to deliver and distribute bags at Highland Park Elementary (HPE) School. To learn more and to sign up: Deliver or Distribute.
3. Meet at HPE at 9:15 a.m. to distribute bags. This takes an hour or less. To learn more and to sign up: Distribute.

Donations
The Weekend Backpack Program is run entirely by volunteers. The only cost is the purchase of food from The Food Group, Costco, Target and Aldi. This is inexpensive kid-friendly food and is delivered for free to Gloria Dei. Volunteers provide all other aspects of the program. We are grateful for donations to continue our work to reduce childhood hunger in our neighborhood.

Ways to donate:
* Monetary gifts are always welcome.
* Second Offering in September will be for the Weekend Backpack Program.
* Donations of food, specifically individual servings of pudding cups (Aldi, Target) and beef sticks (no pork) individually wrapped (Costco: Slim Jims and JackLinks; Target: Archer).

Click here to make a donation.

For more information please contact Diane Burk.