Community Emergency Service (CES)

Food shelf: Ces serves south, southeast, loring nicollet with a special focus on the historically challenged phillips neighborhood, which is where we make our home. Our food shelf operates as a supershelf food program, allowing our neighbors to shop for their needs. It took over 1,450 volunteers to assist the food shelf program, equaling over 4,800 hours of Service. Through the food shelf, Ces distributed over 224,300 pounds of groceries, enough for 186,920 healthy and culturally familiar meals. This is one of the most diverse and low-income neighborhoods, impacted by an ever changing, challenging environment. We are serving a growing number of these low-income neighbors who need help making ends meet. In Minnesota, food shelf visits were up 53% in 2022 versus 2021 and hit a new record high for demand. Ces experienced this trend in our own "backyard." After the pandemic, the food shelf was able to return to the supershelf model of shopping for more nutritional produce and proteins along with picking out their own preferences. Not only did the Ces food shelf serve an average of 505 households per month (a 51% increase over this time last year), but over 400 families received thanksgiving and christmas meals. The pandemic era-surge of Emergency grants and donations have also slowed, and volunteerism has been slow to rebound after the pandemic. Simultaneously, inflation caused food prices to rise to 40-year highs as well as food donations were down making our day-to-day operations more expensive. During fiscal year 2023 (april 1, 2022-march 31, 2023), 91% of Ces' food shelf visitors self-identified as black, indigenous or persons of color (bipoc) with approximately 71% of those served, self-reported as being hispanic, changing the landscape of Ces food shelf. To adapt to this change, Ces provided culturally familiar foods to the growing number of bipoc visitors and continued to prioritize the distribution of fresh produce, lean proteins, whole grains, and other healthy food staples. Together, we continue to equip families with children, seniors, and low-wage earners to be able to put healthy food on their tables and move beyond a time of crisis or transition...to stability. As one food shelf client sums it up, "i come here for healthy food and conversation. When you have no family, life gets heavy. The volunteers at Ces listen and do not judge. I am healthier because of the services at Ces."

Mow: one of the largest meals on wheels (Ces mow) program in Minnesota, Ces mow provided daily delivery to an average of 300-330 homebound seniors and disabled adults of hot or frozen meals (depending on the client's preference), a friendly smile and a daily visit and wellness check. The purpose of Ces mow is to assist people to live in their homes rather than institutions, providing them with a quality of life while at the same time a savings to government social programs. In total, over 2,000 volunteers delivered 75,920 healthy prepared meals to about 540 homebound seniors and adults with disabilities or health conditions across the phillips Community and adjacent areas of south minneapolis, loring nicollet area, downtown minneapolis, and north minneapolis logging over 4,100 hours of Service. Sixty-nine percent of clients were seniors, and the remaining 31 percent were adults (non-seniors) that have a disability or underlying health condition that kept them homebound. Mow was open to all seniors and adults who were homebound, but 94% were low-income and unable to privately pay for their meals. The majority of clients' meals were subsidized, in part, by funding from hennepin county or the federal title iii older americans act. 46% were female and 54% were male. 41% were african/african american, 31% were caucasian, 4% were hispanic/latino, 3% were native american, 2% were asian, and 19% were unreported/other.without Ces mow, many of our clients would experience hunger or end up in an institution. During the pandemic, many were more isolated than ever. Because of this isolation, telecare (a telephone well check and conversation program) began and continued during fy 23. These volunteers made phone calls to our homebound senior clients, who expressed great appreciation for the high-quality social connections they made and the support they received. Ces, along with area organizations, operated a central commissary to prepare and package catered meals for a coalition of mow programs that saved countless funds. During the holidays, mow delivered holiday meals (thanksgiving and christmas eve), holiday gifts, and holiday cheer. Household essentials (home goods, cleaning, and hygiene products) were provided to clients in need, which included fans to those who do not have air conditioning in the summer, as well as winter jackets, hats, and mittens to clients who do not have adequate winter gear. During fiscal year 2023, meals on wheels experienced some challenging times due to several factors. Funding from the cares act (federal hunger relief funds) ended earlier than anticipated. When this funding ended, Ces had to assess if clients were eligible for county or federal title iii funding, and if they were, aid them in the transition. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of client attrition through the arduous process. Our long-time program manager left Ces. Through the transition of hiring a new manager, Ces lost traction on its client outreach efforts. Ces meals on wheels became fully staffed during the end of fiscal year 23 and has begun to complete more outreach efforts. Even as we emerged from the pandemic, Ces mow served 23% more clients than before the pandemic and with rising food and labor costs, it has been a challenge to keep up with the need. The Minnesota department of human services estimated that 44 hours per week of home care cost $60,000 annually, an assisted living facility cost was over $48,000 annually, and a nursing home cost was over $90,000 annually. With a per meal cost of about $9.50, Ces mow can equip seniors to live independently at a better value to society (~$3,500 annually). With these statistics and the new staffing, Ces mow is moving in an upward positive position. Ces is undeterred in our commitment to relieve the hunger and isolation of our homebound neighbors in need.

Home delivery: home delivery (hd) provided over 147,700 pounds of free healthy and culturally familiar groceries to a monthly average of over 389 seniors (equivalent to almost 123,100 meals). Hunger was up across Minnesota last year and visits to food shelves hit a record high for demand. But not all seniors could visit their local grocery store or food shelf. Many seniors had barriers like transportation, mobility and health issues, and strict budgetary constraints, so home delivery brought the food shelf to their door. On average, each delivery included 39 pounds of food. Beyond meals, 100% of new clients received intake interviews and all clients received vital socialization and connection to resources, which equipped them to continue living independently. After the impact of the pandemic with a new "normal, and the continued rising cost of food, there was a growing number of those in need of home delivery services. In fy 23, 83% were seniors and the remaining 17% were adults (non-seniors) that had a disability or underlying health condition that kept them homebound, 100% were low-income, 62% were female and 38% were male, 66% were east/west african, 12% were african american/black, 10% were caucasian, 4% native american, and 8% other. To qualify, hd clients must be at or below 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines. For our home delivery program, we offered a full choice model. Clients received a shopping list or were contacted via a phone call and could freely select items from various categories (including many culturally specific options). Volunteers pre-packed the groceries for each client and delivered them to recipients on a specified day, providing free nutritious food along with a friendly visit by volunteers. Altogether, it took almost 550 volunteers to fill the orders, pack, and deliver the food. This equaled to over1,600 volunteer hours of Service. The recipients received close to 40 pounds of food and hygiene once a month, including meat, eggs, and dairy products, as well as additional fresh produce. To better meet the needs of all hd participants, Ces increased the amount of culturally familiar foods. Additionally, a phone call to clients was made so they could request culturally, or dietary specific items not offered on the list. Rising food expenses strained Ces' budget. Yet, Ces purchased what we could (with available budgets) and worked with food drive partners, local congregations, etc., to provide additional requested items. Since a substantial portion of program participants were immigrants from east and west africa, our home delivery program regularly offered goat meat, fish, larger quantities of fresh produce, flour, sugar, rice, dates for ramadan, etc. Sourcing a variety of foods for hd became more difficult as supply chain issues impacted our food bank and retail partners' inventories and prices. With the changing climate of less volunteers and the increased needs of the recipients, it became necessary to seek more funding and grants to upgrade the processes and equipment to adequately supply those in the home delivery program. In spite of these constraints, Ces is committed to equipping low-income, homebound seniors to eat healthy and culturally familiar meals and bring a vital sense of Community. . . Right to their door.

One thing that sets Ces apart is our one-to-one caring. Ces seeks to help clients meet their needs through support to move beyond crisis by taking time to build relationships whereby people are encouraged to move into a productive life. Besides our three main programs, holiday gifts for isolated seniors, holiday gift cards for food shelf recipients (which were used to purchase culturally appropriate meat choices), household supplies, bibles, yearly backpacks and school supplies, winter gear, and occasional gift cards were also given to those in need. Only as funds are available, Ces provides gas and bus cards or bus tokens for a client to get to work and some utility assistance, specifically for water, and to keep people in their homes and monetary housing assistance to prevent homelessness. If Ces is unable to provide a Service, we have an extensive list of other resources/organizations that might be able to help that person's specific need. In fiscal year 2023, over 2,430 individuals and families received about $28,150 in aid and almost 1,145 referrals were made to other organizations or additional services. Additionally, staff are always available at all food distributions and make a point of interfacing with clients on a one-on-one basis to solicit feedback, ideas, and suggestions. For instance, each month our home delivery program manager and staff connect with participants to ensure their needs for culturally or dietary specific foods were fulfilled. Also, in-home assessments were completed for all new participants to the meals on wheels title iii program prior to them receiving daily nutritious meals.as part of our mission - building Community - we continue to work with the Emergency food assistance program (tefap), which provides government commodities and the nutrition assistance program for seniors (naps), providing food boxes in partnership with second harvest heartland food bank for those over 60. Ani-meals, a separate meals on wheels program, ensured that our senior companions had the same access to healthy food and care. For many of these homebound clients, a pet provides vial companionship, but many clients shared their food with their pets as they struggled to make ends meet. Ani-meals served our neighbors both with two legs and four. Our drivers made 870 delivered to nearly 100 clients with almost 12,700 pounds of pet food and cat litter, feeding almost 170 furry friends. Our motto "feeding pets, feeding hearts. "during the pandemic, due to social distancing, many of our homebound individuals became more isolated. As a result, telecare was created. During fiscal year 23, our telecare initiative of 40+ volunteers made regular phone calls to about 200 of our homebound and isolated meals on wheels and home delivery clients to provide high-quality socialization opportunities. Through these conversations the volunteers gathered a deeper understanding of their unique needs, connected them with additional resources that will equip them to continue to live independently.during fiscal year 2023 (fy 23), april 1, 2022-march 31, 2023, the strategic plan was updated to become more relevant to the changing times, especially after moving on from the pandemic, which brought a new normal to the world. The basics of the Ces mission remain the same, but the day-to-day operations and goals sustained a new outlook for the next three years. Ces continues to make meeting the needs of our clients and our neighbors a priority, implementing a plan as we seek to expand and deepen our impact nowand into the future!