Cuyuna Range Food Shelf conversion to SuperShelf and Shopping Model - Brainerd Dispatch | News, weather, sports from Brainerd and Baxter

The Cuyuna Range Food Shelf made the decision to transition from a prepared box model to a self-serve shopping model in January 2024.

The goal was to “go live” in June 2024. With a lot of assistance from the SuperShelf Lead Consultants for the Northeast Region, Department of Family, Health and Wellbeing University of Minnesota Extension, the volunteers at the Cuyuna Range Food Shelf were able to make this aggressive schedule a reality. We received generous donations from those in the community to help with the purchase of new shelving, refrigerator and freezer units, shopping carts and paint. Several youths in our community painted sunshine murals inside our facility and cheerful welcome signs to greet people as they enter.

The Cuyuna Range Food Shelf also received a SHIP/Crow Wing Energized Partner Award for the purchase of beautifully colored signs for the food shelf. The Cuyuna Range Food Shelf knows that the SHIP Partner Award made a huge difference in the atmosphere of the Food Shelf Environment. The bright wall hangings, designation signs for the various categories of foods and personal items along with an external name plaque for the building accentuate a welcoming environment that focuses on providing nutritious, wholesome foods.

The new shopping model has been well received by our community, with most preferring it to the old box model. We have retained one day for distributing boxes and have them available for emergencies, but the box numbers are dwindling and shopping customers increasing. This is consistent with the goal of the transition: provide healthy choices to our customers and facilitate them in taking what they need. We provide these healthy choices with food donations from Super One, Target, Costco, Cub Foods, Salvation Army, Master Gardeners, Sprout and Second Harvest and now have the environment to display them. We continue to receive food and cash donations from our church communities and individuals and depend on them to purchase the bulk of our food.

The new signage and shopping model allows “neighbors” to easily choose from well-labeled categories of proteins, fruits and vegetables, baking, produce, prepared meals and sides to meet their families' needs.

The Cuyuna Range Food Shelf is located at the junction of Cross Street and Third Avenue North in Crosby.

For more information visit cuyunarangefoodshelf.com or find them on Facebook.

Crow Wing Energized was founded with the mission to “Improve health and wellness in our community by making the healthy choice the easy choice.” We know this is best accomplished when we work together to improve our communities, which is why we also recognize the works of other organizations and programs in our Midweek Motivator article. We want to connect readers to services, events, organizations, and resources that promote healthy living as well as healthy and productive workplaces. If you are interested in learning more about Crow Wing

Energized and our upcoming classes and events visit CrowWingEnergized.org. You can also stay updated by following Crow Wing Energized on Facebook.

The Statewide Health Improvement Partnership supports community-driven solutions to expand opportunities for active living, healthy eating, and commercial tobacco-free living; helping all people in Minnesota prevent chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

SHIP works with community partners to increase opportunities for safer physical activity, increase access to healthy and affordable foods, reduce commercial tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure, improve wellness opportunities in the workplace and create opportunities for improved emotional well-being.

SHIP helps build thriving communities, creating opportunities for all people in Minnesota to live longer, healthier lives. Ninety percent of the nation’s health care costs are for people with chronic conditions, and the majority of those costs are preventable.

Crow Wing Energized is a grassroots movement dedicated to improving the health and wellness of Crow Wing County residents through a focus on Healthy Choices, Mental Fitness, Workplace Wellness, and Community Connections. For more information about free resources, volunteering, classes and events, go to https://crowwingenergized.org

The Dispatch partnered with Crow Wing Energized for a regular column to help motivate health and wellness in the community.