Southern Minnesota City’s Souped Up Food Project Aims to End Hunger in the Area

Almost 1 out of 11 people in the Austin area, home to Fortune 500 food manufacturer Hormel Foods Corp., have trouble finding enough to eat. This community hopes to change that with a new program.

Community leaders here launched a program designed to help people access more food two years ago. Though the Hometown Food Security Project hasn’t run for long, advocates say it’s already making a difference.

“It’s one thing to roll out a document stating that we’ve addressed food insecurity, but it’s another thing to really roll up our sleeves and get to work to understand the root causes,” said Gema Alvarado-Guerrero, co-director of the project.

The concept sounds simple: Get a full-time social worker to connect families to local food shelves, backpack programs and other services that will help feed them. Start an advertising campaign telling Mower County families how to access food benefits. Bring different groups together and coordinate programs so they can spread resources around.

The work even includes a recently launched app, available in nine languages, that connects people to food pantries and other resources. It also helps folks figure out how to apply for SNAP benefits and what changes there are to the program — while at the same time providing project organizers with data on who needs help in the community.

But the project took more than a year’s worth of planning before it launched, and more than a decade of work from individual agencies that weren’t getting anywhere on their own.

Nonprofit food bank network Feeding America estimates that between 8% and 11% of Mower County residents couldn’t find enough food to eat from 2009-2020. Most of those people qualified for federal SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps. And in Austin Public Schools, nearly 70% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch programs before Minnesota started offering school meals for free.

Local organizations have tried to tackle food access issues on their own over the years. The United Way of Mower County and local churches have backpack programs that provide students with food during weekends, while the local senior center and other groups bring food to folks in need, among other strategies.