SIOUX FALLS – Corona Help Sioux Falls, The Helpline Center and Feeding South Dakota will be moving the centralized community food distribution to the vacated Fareway grocery store location at 41st Street and Grange Avenue beginning Tuesday, June 2. Distributions will continue each Tuesday and Thursday from 1 7 p.m. Guests are asked
to enter the parking lot using the 41st Street entrance in between Pancheros and 18th Amendment.
“The Expo Building at the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds have served us well for the past seven weeks. As the city of Sioux Falls is beginning to reopen and businesses strive to resume operations, the fairgrounds are no exception and the show must go on,” said Jennifer Stensaas, communications coordinator, Feeding South Dakota.
Since the centralized distributions began on April 13, the number of households served weekly by Feeding South Dakota have tripled. “Community need will dictate how long these distributions will continue. At this rate, we do not have the building and location capacity on Westport Avenue to serve nearly 1,500 households each week,” said Matt Gassen, CEO, Feeding South Dakota. “Our Food Pantry will remain closed until we determine it is safe for our staff, volunteers and guests to resume operations.”
Individuals and families in need of food assistance are asked to pre-register at https://www.helplinecenter.org/foodsf/ for their first visit to one of our community food distributions. Following, guests will be able to receive food assistance every other week and are asked to bring their photo ID. Janet Kittams, Chief Executive Officer for Helpline Center states, “The Helpline Center is pleased to serve as the initial point of contact for people to register for the food distribution. Individuals can also call 211 to complete the process.”
Volunteers are still needed. If you are interested in helping with food distributions, please visit https://feedingsouthdakota.org/volunteer/ or https://www.coronahelpsf.com/ and click on the “I want to help” button. “We are thankful for the way the community has served. As people go back to normal schedules, we still need volunteers to step forward to serve and help us care for the needs of our neighbors who are still struggling,” said Rich Merkouris, Corona Help Sioux Falls.
For the most up-to-date information regarding distributions, follow @FeedingSD on Facebook as well as https://feedingsouthdakota.org/mobile.
Monetary donations are needed to continue to assist individuals and families in need during this pandemic. For every $1 donated, Feeding South Dakota can procure and transport three meals to hungry South Dakotans. As donated product is becoming increasingly difficult to source, Feeding South Dakota has also used donations to purchase staple food items to help fill the gap. Feeding South Dakota also relies on donated product through its retail store pickup program in partnership with stores like HyVee, Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club and Target.
Monetary donations can be made online at https://feedingsouthdakota.org/donate.