North Country Food Alliance

Foodshare: We partner with businesses metro wide including but not limited to grocery stores, food coops, distributors, farmers markets, and food production facilities. We take the perishable food products such as fresh produce, meat, bread, and dairy that these businesses would ave to waste without our help. Our workers ensure rapid and safe transportation of the food to Twin Cities nonprofits every weekday. This fiscal year, we rescued 441,337lbs of rescued food from our grocery partners, 54,975lbs of food from farmers markets, and purchased $63,605 worth of food directly from local BIPOC farmers.

Community Gardens: We plant gardens in neighborhoods with restricted access to fresh produce. These gardens give people the opportunity to learn how to grow their own healthy food and provide free produce to folks in the neighborhood. In 2021, we worked with the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority to transfer management of this community garden to the Somali American Farmers Association (SAFA). Horn Towers is home to many Somali elders, and SAFA grows East African greens and crops like millet and okra in traditional ways that include regenerative practices. We also manage a garden in North Minneapolis, which has grown to house 24 circular raised beds and 16 rectangular ones. This is the largest it's been since its founding in 2017. In spring 2022, we also started managing the community garden at Walker Church and we also cultivate a plot at the Merriam Station Community Garden in St. Paul.