MONTEVIDEO – The Prairie Five Community Action Council is reaching out to local counties it serves, as well as businesses and individuals, to ask for support in setting up a food hub with a commercial kitchen and food distribution center.
Prairie Five is asking each county to donate $25,000 to the project. Local support is important to receiving grant funding, according to a letter the counties received from Erick Hedman, Prairie Five’s director of food services, and Laura Milbrandt, director of housing services.
Prairie Five is seeking grants from organizations such as the Otto Bremer Foundation for the project, which is estimated to cost $1.1 million.
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Hedman told the West Central Tribune that Prairie Five is optimistic about getting the funding it needs. The organization has already received financial support from Prime West Insurance and Second Harvest Heartland, the latter of which recently increased its allocation from $50,000 to $100,000 for the project.
PrimeWest Health offers health insurance plans in 24 counties in the greater Minnesota area for people who qualify for income-based health insurance programs. Second Harvest Heartland is a hunger relief organization that serves over 1,000 food distribution sites in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
The five Upper Minnesota River Valley counties served by Prairie Five—Big Stone, Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Swift and Yellow Medicine—have poverty rates that are higher than the state average of 9.2%. The poverty rate contributes to food insecurity in the region.
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There are an estimated 4,670 people living in the five counties who are food insecure, according to a 2021 analysis by Feeding America. The average food insecurity rate in the five counties is 7.8%, according to Feeding America.
According to Feeding America, food insecurity ranges from low to high. Low food insecurity is defined as cases in which people are unable to eat the quality, variety, or desired foods they need to live a healthy, active life. High food insecurity is defined as cases in which people are unable to eat the full amount of calories and nutrients needed to live a healthy, active life.
The proposed food hub would be located on Benson Road in Montevideo. The city of Montevideo is working with Prairie Five and has offered to sell a piece of land on Benson Road for the food hub, Hedman said.
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Prairie Five currently uses a commercial kitchen in Montevideo’s former hospital building to prepare hot and frozen meals, which are provided to residents in community dining rooms across the five boroughs. The organization also operates a fleet of “hot/cold” trucks – with temperature-controlled spaces for frozen or hot food – that deliver meals to rural residents.
Hedman says the existing kitchen is not enough to meet the counties’ food needs. Prairie Five is working with Friendship Homes in Montevideo and plans to assemble three triple-wide prefab homes into a building on the Benson Road site that will house both the kitchen and the Chippewa County food distribution center.
Macy Moore/West Central Tribune
