Each March, Minnesota FoodShare, a program of the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, organizes Minnesota's largest drive for the hungry:  the March Campaign.  Thousands of corporations, congregations, civic groups, and individuals raise millions of pounds of food and millions of dollars to feed families who need help. Channel One has participated in FoodShare since its inception in 1982.

The 2009 Channel One Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign was a great success! The campaign raised $168,543 and collected 166,417 pounds of food!

During March, Channel One joins with food shelves across Minnesota to collect donations of money and food that support our local efforts to help feed people in need and reduce hunger in our community. When your congregation, business, school or service club participates in the March FoodShare campaign, we make sure that the food and money collected provides food assistance for local people who need it.  

In 2008, Channel One Food Shelf provided free supplemental food to an average 3,000 unduplicated household visits each month, making food available to over 9,100 individuals on a monthly basis. The Food Shelf distributed more than 2.27 million pounds of food during 2008 – much of this work was accomplished with the assistance of people like you! Our work could not be as effective as it is without your generous support.

Top 2009 FoodShare Campaigns

FoodShare is truly a community driven food and fund drive that raises awareness about hunger in Minnesota. Channel One would like to express our appreciation for all the congregations, businesses, individuals, schools and groups that made the 2009 such a great success! Thanks to each of you, we had our most successful FoodShare Campaign in the history of Channel One.

The largest campaigns for 2009 are listed below.

Congregations

1. First Presbyterian Church - $8,830 and 495 pounds of food

2. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church - $5,291.61 and 1,836 pounds of food

3. Gloria Dei Lutheran Church - $5,707 and 132 pounds of food

Business Campaigns

1. Olmsted County Employees - $4,899.25 & 1,596 pounds of food collected

2. Eastwood Bank  - $4,450

3. Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Diseases Department - $1,017.21

School Campaigns

1. Bamber Valley - $1,246.87 and 2,589 pounds of food collected

2. Schaeffer Academy - 797 pounds

3. Dover-Eyota High School - $600

Feinstein Challenge

In conjunction with FoodShare, Channel One Food Bank and Food Shelf also participates in the “Feinstein Challenge” during March and April. Rhode Island philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein will donate $1 million to hunger relief agencies nationwide through his Challenge to Help Fight Hunger initiative.

Mr. Feinstein asks food banks, food shelves, and other hunger-relief organizations to use his donation to help raise additional funds from other sources. Nationwide, these organizations raise as much money as possible between March 1 and April 30, 2009. The more money we raise, the larger our share of the $1 million donation from this initiative. The results from the community's FoodShare activities and all donations that Channel One receives during the months of March and April are part of our eligibility for the “Feinstein Challenge”.