Forum News Service: Food organizations in Minnesota and North Dakota brace for end of E-SNAP food benefits

EXCERPT: “According to a July 2022 report by Feeding America, rural counties make up 63% of all U.S counties but represent 87% of counties with food-insecurity rates in the top 10%. That means counties with the highest rates of food insecurity are disproportionately rural. ‘In North Dakota, 95% of the land area in the state is dedicated to ag production, so that’s about as rural as you get,’ said Jared Slinde, communications director for Great Plains Food Bank, which is the only food bank in North Dakota and also offers service to Clay County in Minnesota. ‘So we’re trying to be strategic with our food pantries, and we’re able to work in different parts of the state along with our mobile food pantry, which is really geared toward battling rural food insecurity and taking trucks full of food out into underserved communities.’ ‘We understand that hunger isn’t just an urban issue, it’s an issue all around the state,’ said Colleen Moriarty, executive director of Hunger Solutions Minnesota, based in St. Paul. ‘Hunger is not regional, it’s not urban, it’s not rural — it’s everywhere.’ With hunger being an “everywhere” problem, organizations involved in addressing it are open to many ways to get people fed.” FULL STORY: https://fluence-media.co/41p0Fix