A Glimpse of Dodge County

March has been known as FoodShare Month in Minnesota for years. It’s a time when individuals, churches, organizations and businesses can all come together and agree on one goal – restocking food shelves throughout the state. For once, there seems to be something everyone can agree on.
It also brings into public consciousness the entire issue of hunger in our state and region.
The term that many use is not hunger but rather “food insecurity.” The term means not having consistent access to adequate and nutritious food.
There are many organizations tackling the problem and just as many ways to go about doing it.
In looking around Dodge County I found that helping meet the need of the hungry and food insecure is taking many different forms, all of them contributing to alleviating the problem.
Over the course of the next month I hope to take a look at some of those efforts.
This week I included a discussion I had last week with Bishop Steven Delzer of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod of the ELCA. I first heard of his goal of eliminating food insecurity in southeastern Minnesota last May at the Synod Assembly in Rochester. I’ve heard him speak several times since then and he is obviously passionate about this goal.
Next week we’ll take a look at a ministry of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Kasson called “A Place at the Table” that offers a meal every Wednesday night, not just for those in need of a free meal but also for any community resident who would like to come for fellowship with others.
There’s also a program at Faith Lutheran in Dodge Center to provide food for families to help tide them over during those times when the money or the food stamps just don’t stretch far enough.
There’s a lot going on in this area and March is a good time to spotlight some of these efforts. We’ll try to take a look at one or two of them each week.