Menu
Emergency boxes are at the
St. Bernards Church
105 Knight Ave North
Thief River Falls, MN
Distribution and donation hours are
Tuesdays 10:30-1:30
Thursdays 3:00-6:00
Or by appointment at 218-681-4708
Bus is free if called the day before at 218-681-6760
The Thief River Falls Area Food Shelf began its mission, “Extinguish Hunger, Ignite Hope”, in April, 2011. From that time up until 2017, we had no permanent home. We used churches, the National Guard Armory and community parking lots to distribute food to needy clients twice monthly. In September of 2017, we purchased a warehouse which included seven additional acres of farm land. In September of 2019 we became a certified SuperShelf enabling us better access to provide more nutritional foods to our clientele.
We currently are open twice weekly and for emergency appointments. In March of 2020, we were required to close our doors due to the pandemic. Since then, we have used a drive-through order method with curb-side pickup.
The spring of 2020, we connected with our current Master Gardener and local civic organizations to begin work on creating a garden plot specifically used for our food shelf this past season. This garden produced approximately 300 pounds of food and edible florals to serve our food shelf clients and surrounding communities. This season, we are looking to expand our garden to serve not just our clientele, but senior citizens, the disabled and anyone in the communities we serve.
During 2022, we served 7,084 individuals 288,909 pounds of food, hygiene and household items. Included in those numbers 2,116 were children ages 0-17, 3,776 adults ages 18-64 and 1,186 seniors ages 65 and up. Of those numbers 1,706 were families of two or more.
We serve clients in need in the following forty-plus rural towns in Northwest and North Central Minnesota: Thief River Falls, Bagley, Battle River, Brooks, Clearbrook, Crookston, Dent, Erskine, Fort Worth, TX, Fosston, Gatzke, Gonvick, Goodridge, Grafton, ND, Grand Forks, ND, Greenbush, Grygla, Halma, Holt, Karlstad, Lake Bronson, McIntosh, Mentor, Middle River, Newfolden, Oklee, Oslo, Plummer, Red Lake, Red Lake Falls, Roseau, St. Hilaire, St. Paul, Salol, Strandquist, Strathcona, Trail, Viking, Warren, Warroad and Winger. In addition, we serve the migrant population who are employed at our local turkey plant as well as displaced individuals and families.