About Open Cupboard

Our Name

Open Cupboard began in 1983 as the Christian Cupboard Emergency Food Shelf or CCEFS. You can learn more about our name change here.

Our Mission

Our unrelenting focus is to provide nutritious food to our neighbors in a respectful manner while engaging our community in the fight against hunger.

Our Values

We believe that access to nutritious food is a basic human right. We are committed to responding to the needs of our community by providing food distribution and support services with dignity and respect.

Our History

Open Cupboard was established in 1983 as the Christian Cupboard Emergency Food Shelf or CCEFS, and initially started as a food closet in the basement of Woodbury Lutheran Church. During the first year of operation, CCEFS served about five families per week, at a time when Woodbury’s population was around 6,000 people. Over the years, the organization grew along with the needs of the community, eventually adding paid staff who worked alongside an army of dedicated volunteers.

During the mid 2010s it had become clear that the organization’s work could no longer be sustained in the basement of the church, and in 2017 CCEFS launched a capital campaign to raise funds to move from Woodbury Lutheran Church to a new building on the grounds of Guardian Angels Church. In January 2018 CCEFS opened its doors in its new home. This shift created enormous opportunity to grow our service to the community. In May 2021, CCEFS added a second site, called Today’s Harvest, in Oakdale near the intersection of 694 and Century Avenue. In March 2022, CCEFS opened a Today’s Harvest at our Guardian Angels location, allowing for both inside shopping and drive-up service. In July of 2022, CCEFS became Open Cupboard.