Wooddale Church Donates Eleven Tons of Food to Area Food Shelves

(Eden Prairie, MN, October 25, 2010) Each year, Wooddale Church sponsors two food drives which benefit local food shelves. Wooddale Church recently concluded their fall food drive that brought in over 11 tons of food. The food is distributed to eight metro-area food shelves; nearly half of the food goes to support Eden Prairie’s PROP (People Reaching Out to Other People).

Over the past decade, food shelf usage has nearly tripled, from over 1 million visits to nearly 3 million visits annually. The largest increase has been during the recent economic downturn. From 2008-2009 there was a 25 percent increase in food shelf visits in Minnesota - the largest recorded increase in 28 years, according to Minnesota Food Share. Wooddale Church has responded in helping to meet the need to fill these shelves during that time. Their fall food drive, which ran from September 25 – October 17, raised 22,145 pounds of food. This is the largest food collection since Wooddale began their food drives.

Wooddale Church values community outreach as one of five strategies in their Worldwide ministry. Worldwide Pastor Richard Payne says, “In the Bible, Jesus told us to love our neighbor as our self. Many folks attending Wooddale Church live out Jesus’ words in their actions and with their time by actively volunteering. Twice a year, we hold food drives in which the donated food goes to local organizations including PROP, VEAP and Breaking Free. We are very grateful that people give generously to others, even in tough economic times.”

These tough economic times are evident to PROP, which serves 125 households weekly and is dependent on donations to serve families in need in this community. In August, PROP completed the most food requests ever and their food shelf was very low, according to PROP’s Operations Manager, Janet Palmer. Upon receiving the first delivery of food from Wooddale, Ann Harnack, Executive Director of PROP stated, “Our shelves were so very low and this is a blessing indeed.”

Wooddale Church provides other opportunities to volunteer with community organizations. For more information, visit the Community Outreach page at www.wooddale.org/do/missions.