The Pennington-Red Lake Soybean and Corn Growers are putting their checkoff dollars to good use by donating to the Thief River Falls Food Shelf.

“It is very important and helpful to those in need,” Board President Lauren Proulx said. “The Thief River Falls Food Shelf does tremendous work, and we are proud to help the families in our community.”

Proulx noted that Minnesota’s soybean farmers play an important role in providing feed for the meat that ends up on the family table.

“Livestock are our No. 1 customer of soybeans,” she said. “Poultry, pork and beef depend on soybeans.”

The purpose of the Thief River Falls Area Food Shelf is to extinguish hunger and ignite hope for individuals and families in Pennington County by providing consistent food assistance to people in need while raising community awareness of hunger issues, Executive Director Alecia Hunt said.

During 2022, the organization served 7,084 individuals 288,909 pounds of food, hygiene and household items. Of those numbers, 2,116 were children ages 0-17, 3,776 adults ages 18-64 and 1,186 seniors ages 65 and up. Of those numbers, 1,706 were families of two or more.

“We serve clients in need in the following forty-plus rural towns in northwest and north central Minnesota, said Hunt. “In addition, the food shelf serves the migrant population who are employed at the local turkey plant, as well as displaced individuals and families.

The Pennington/Red Lake County Corn and Soybean Growers Association is affiliated with the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, which oversees the investment of soybean checkoff dollars on behalf of the nearly 28,000 farmers in Minnesota. The Council is governed by the rules of a federally mandated checkoff program that requires all soybean producers pay a fee on the soybeans they sell. Checkoff dollars are used to promote, educate, and develop market opportunities for soybeans.