March 2026
This past October, our team at Open Cupboard watched something remarkable and sobering unfold.
In just two weeks, 1,300 households came to our free, fresh markets for the very first time.
They were parents who never visited a food shelf. Seniors whose fixed incomes no longer stretched to the end of the month. Individuals navigating a turbulent economy where groceries and rent climbed faster than wages. Many had been quietly holding things together for months, until another shift, another cut, another unexpected bill made that impossible. Despite serving 6,500 households each week last fall, this was a noticeable shift.
An Unpredictable Year
This past year has tested hunger relief organizations across Minnesota in ways few could have predicted. Early in 2025, executive orders and federal funding cuts destabilized programs many families depend on. Throughout the year, high prices for food and other essentials squeezed household budgets. In October, freezes and reductions to SNAP benefits sent more neighbors seeking help from food programs like ours. And since early December, immigration enforcement activity has required us to modify our operations so families can access food safely while many are afraid to leave their homes or have lost income because they are not working.
Crisis after crisis can create the impression that food shelves exist in a permanent state of emergency response. And in many ways, we do. But that is not the whole story, because every day, we see something else: a community that shows up for one another.
We see volunteers who sort produce with care because they know dignity matters. We see local farmers and retail partners who prioritize getting fresh food to folks who need it. We see donors who understand that flexible dollars allow us to adapt quickly when policies shift overnight. We see first-time shoppers who, after regaining their footing, return as volunteers or advocates.
Food Shelves as Essential Community Infrastructure
Food shelves are about more than filling a pantry or plate. We are part of a broader, community-built infrastructure that stabilizes families and strengthens local economies.
At Open Cupboard, our model is designed around access and abundance. Our free fresh markets operate like grocery stores, allowing people to choose the foods that work for their households, however often they need to. That choice restores a sense of agency at a time when many feel they have little control. When families can count on reliable access to food, they can focus on their health, on caregiving, on work.
The recent increase and shift in people reaching out to us for food help underscores a hard truth: food insecurity is not confined to the margins. It is woven through our workforce, our neighborhoods, and our classrooms. But it also reveals a powerful asset: our collective capacity to respond.
Preparing for the Next Crisis, and Beyond, Together
We cannot build a sustainable system by lurching from one emergency to the next. Nor can we rely solely on short-term infusions of funding when headlines grow dire. What this moment requires is a durable, collective commitment to the infrastructure that keeps communities stable in good times and bad.
That means investing in hunger relief organizations as essential community partners. It means supporting policies that ensure families can meet basic needs with dignity. It means recognizing that when we fortify food access, we are also strengthening public health, educational outcomes, and economic resilience.
Most importantly, it means staying engaged even when the crisis cycle shifts.
The families who walk through our doors are not statistics. They are our coworkers, our neighbors, and the parents of our children’s friends. When we invest in the systems that support them, we invest in the future we all share. We do not know what the next challenge will be. But we do know that communities are strongest when they build together.
At this moment, as we adapt to new realities and continue serving thousands of households each week, we invite our neighbors to stand with us and their neighborhood hunger relief organizations in response to today’s urgency, and in preparation for whatever tomorrow brings.
Jessica Francis
Executive Director
Open Cupboard
opencupboard.org