Features > A Whole Lot of Heart
A Whole Lot of Heart
A look into the process behind Second Harvest Heartland's mission to fight hunger
By Heather Kelly
Second Harvest Heartland is Minnesota’s largest hunger relief organization and provides 30 million pounds of food each year to families, children, senior citizens and the homeless. They work with other organizations such as non-profit food banks and shelters. Second Harvest is also strengthened by 20,000 individual donors and more than 7,000 volunteers who help bring nutritious and well-balanced meals to the hungry. They offer a variety of programs. For example, the Child Hunger program gives school-aged children the opportunity to receive healthy snacks and meals after school and during summer programs. Volunteers from both corporate and private groups are an integral component of Second Harvest’s hunger-fighting machine.
Volunteers inspect cans for dents and imperfections.
Second Harvest volunteers remove the food’s original label and replace it with a new sticker.
The new labels state the ingredients in the product and that it was distributed by Second Harvest.
Volunteering during work hours can be a great team-building activity for companies. Best Buy employees Scott Belseth and Michael Chopskie (left) work together on the line.
Carson Koenke and Ryan Holmes (left) work together to relabel cans.
Grocery bags full of bulk vegetables are ready for distribution at the front desk.