A big belated thank you to all Annandale Food Shelf donors, businesses, churches, cities, friends and dedicated volunteers. It has been two months since the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Holiday Train stopped in Annandale to celebrate Christmas. And what a celebration it was. I believe we had the largest audience ever. Why? There are many reasons, some were as simple as cabin fever, great weather, or incredible Christmas lights.
The holiday train brought in donations of over $50,000. Since no one at the Annandale Food Shelf received salary, this money goes directly to utilities, delivery vehicles and food. We are occasionally asked why no one gets paid, the answer is very simple, if we had to pay our staff of 50 plus volunteers there would be no money to purchase the quality and abundance of food for our clients.
We certainly wouldn’t be working out of the state-of-the-art facility that we do. We have come a long way since I started in 2001. At that time, we distributed about 40,000 pounds per year and now we are at over 450,000 pounds.
Jean and I wish to single out some very special supporters, The Marketplace, Canadian Pacific Railway, Anchor Dock and Lift, the Lions, the Boy and Girl Scouts, Untiedt’s, Walmart, Target, Coborn’s, Minnesota Meat Masters, Bernatello’s, Wright-Hennepin Electric Cooperative, and many individuals, just to name a few.
I am now reviewing our distribution facility. At the time we purchased the property from the city of Annandale Jean and I guaranteed them that the facility would facilitate our needs for a minimum of 10 years.
Here we are at 12 years and still going strong. Do we need to enlarge our facility, increase our hours, open more days, reduce the selection and still provide the quality food or do we just keep blasting along?
In the corporate world I was responsible for distribution and I constantly track our operational efficiency. But hey, it would be nice to have some spare land in my back pocket. I don’t have a crystal ball but I’m prepared for a 20% growth for 2024. If our usage exceeds this number, we will be prepared and have the staff to support it.
Ed Skomoroh is president of the Annandale Area Food Shelf which also serves the Maple Lake and South Haven areas. To donate and for more information go to www.annandalefoodshelf.org.
Ed Skomoroh
Annandale