Duluth Salvation Army to match donations during March FoodShare drive

The Duluth Salvation Army is asking donors to give between March 1 and April 6 so gifts to its local food shelf can be proportionally matched through the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign, a move officials say will multiply support for the Salvation Army’s medical food shelf and other local services. The office is aiming to collect 7,000 pounds of food and raise $9,000 by April 6 to meet rising needs among people who require temporary diets following surgeries, illnesses, or food restrictions.

All food and financial donations received between March 1 and April 6 will be proportionally matched through the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign, the Salvation Army said, and gifts made through April 6 count toward campaign totals. Donors can drop off food in person or mail contributions to the Duluth Salvation Army at 215 South 27th Ave. West, Duluth, MN 55806, call 218-722-7934 (credit card preferred) to give by phone, or donate via the Salvation Army’s website. Food donations are accepted during normal office hours, and people seeking food-shelf service should arrive around 1 p.m. on a Monday or Thursday to sign up.

News reports and campaign materials use slightly different language about matching mechanics; several outlets say donations to the Duluth Salvation Army during March 1–April 6 will be “proportionally matched” through the statewide Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign. No source in the reporting provided explicitly documents a separate local cash match from the Duluth Salvation Army itself, so the matching described is framed as part of the statewide campaign’s proportional match system.

Community Engagement Director Cyndi Lewis emphasized both the steady need for services and the particular role of the medical food shelf. “People tend to forget about us the rest of the year, to be perfectly honest. And we are constantly operating pretty much at the same level, if not at higher levels, depending on what’s happening, and just because you don’t hear it doesn’t mean that we’re not helping,” Lewis said. She also cautioned about funding volatility: “We’ve seen some huge fluctuations in the need of the community, and we didn’t see that coming,” and added that consumer donations stretch further when the organization can buy at scale: “We have a little bit more buying power as our organization is purchasing the things that we need to give out. We can buy more than you can for your money.” Another report quoted Lewis saying, “Without the medical food shelf program, most of their clients would not get their needs met.”

Regional partners are mounting parallel efforts. CHUM, which operates two Duluth food shelves and a mobile delivery service, reported distributing more than half a million pounds of food last year and raised $60,000 during last year’s March campaign. April Ledoux, CHUM Director of Distribution Services, said about local operations, “We keep that door open until we serve the last person because it’s so important that people are losing SNAP benefits or losing work, and we just want to be able to keep providing for them the best we can.” Project Joy recently presented a $10,000 check to local organizations, and Whole Foods Co-op has announced a month-long round-up at its two Duluth locations.

Statewide, the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign supports nearly 300 food shelves and, in its 45-year history, has distributed more than $18.6 million to nonprofit groups across Minnesota. Channel One notes that 1 in 5 people in Minnesota have limited or uncertain access to adequate food. Gifts to the Duluth Salvation Army received by April 6 will count toward the local March Campaign total and may be proportionally matched through the statewide effort to help restock the medical food shelf and meet the organization’s 7,000-pound and $9,000 targets.