State Fair vendors donate excess food

together has officially wrapped up for another year. But the impact of all of that fair food is not over yet. Yeah, well, most of us have had our fill of course of pronto pups and cheese curds, all the things the vendors are now packing up and instead of tossing out leftover ingredients and supplies, many are teaming up with Second Harvest Heartland to ensure those items go to Minnesota families in need. So joining us now to talk about the effort is Sarah Moberg, ceo of Second Harvest Heartland. Sarah, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate your time. Thank you. Appreciate. Great to be here. And it sounds like you all had a very busy day. You and your team were out of the fairgrounds this morning with refrigerated trucks. Tell us how did everything go and what kind of items were vendors dropping off? Well, it was terrific. We were so excited to be partnering with the Minnesota State Fair to collect excess food. Uh, so far the totals are over 21,000 pounds of food were collected. It included items like potatoes, milk, chicken, hot dog buns, uh, and pickles, egg rolls, all sorts of items. And you'll see on the video that we had sunny foundation, freedom works, loaves and fishes, all terrific food shelves working right alongside us to make sure this food has a great place to go in the community. It's incredible to see this teamwork here. So what is the impact of a single rescue event like this one and how quickly will it make it onto the tables of local families? Yeah, this food will make it out really, really fast. And so you know, today a lot of us are focused on getting our kids back in school. We also know that one in three households with Children are struggling to put food on the table right now. And so when you think about an event like this and to be able to collect food that would otherwise be going to waste and getting it into food shelf hands where, you know, community members, they can come pick it up at the closest soonest distribution possible. And so it really will have an impact out in the neighborhoods in our communities. And Sarah, you mentioned it there. I mean, one of three families, you think about that? That's a lot of families that we're talking about here. And you think of, of course, it is back to school season. You think of higher prices as well. Is there anything else that you're hearing from families in particular, maybe about some of their needs right now? Yeah, I mean, we know that when budgets get tight, that food is often the first thing that gets cut. And so if you think about rising food prices, but also rising health care and rising housing costs, child care costs, costs to fix a vehicle. All of that adds up, and it is far easier to miss a meal or maybe give your Children the meal so that parents are going without all of those things again can impact a household's food budget. And that's where our food shelves and meal programs, they're really stepping in right now to help fill those gaps. Second Harvest Heartland rescue surplus food year round. And so what do organizations number one need to know about reaching out to you? And what can the impact be of a single event like this one? Yeah, I always send people to our website at to harvest dot org. There's a ton of information on there. Uh, you know, September is hunger action month, and so it is a great time to just get involved, whether that is donating financially or volunteering your time or even having conversations with policymakers so that they are advocating for smart anti hunger policies at the government level. All of that is needed right now. And again, food like this and these type of events are super, super critical to making sure that our food shelves have the food in stock so that families have something to take home when they need it. Yeah, such important work that you all are doing there, and it's great to see. I mean, even in in the video that we saw just from this morning, it just kind of makes your heart happy. It feels good. And to see all those trucks lined up. I mean, that's an incredible amount of food that will go right to people who can use it instead of going to waste before it spoils, you know, may not make it to the next fair that a lot of these vendors you're going to. So, uh, incredible job out there. And so, uh, Sarah, we hope that this is something obviously that continues year after year with the state fair, right? I mean, this is an annual event. Absolutely. Uh, you know, the Minnesota State Fair, it brings people together. Food has the power to unite us. And a day like today just helps us all see how much further the impact can go. Yeah, we can see it. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you so much. We appreciate your time. Thanks for having me.