Sophia Lenarz-Coy

So there's all sorts of different groups kind of trying to solve that problem. And, you know, the thing that's challenging is we've seen visits to food shelves in Minnesota really skyrocket these past couple of years. So in 2023, we had seven and a half million visits to food shelves in the state.

So there's all sorts of different groups kind of trying to solve that problem. And, you know, the thing that's challenging is we've seen visits to food shelves in Minnesota really skyrocket these past couple of years. So in 2023, we had seven and a half million visits to food shelves in the state.

That was up two million visits from 2022. So this idea of while we want to get everyone connected to resources, there's also this question of how do we sustain the resources at the local level, too?

That was up two million visits from 2022. So this idea of while we want to get everyone connected to resources, there's also this question of how do we sustain the resources at the local level, too?

Yeah, well, I am a passionate consumer of food. So Clarence, as you described your favorite food being seafood, I can relate. I really like to eat food and cook food. And food in my family was always a way that people kind of celebrated together, right? Getting to choose what was for dinner meant something. It was special. It was the way we came together.

Yeah, well, I am a passionate consumer of food. So Clarence, as you described your favorite food being seafood, I can relate. I really like to eat food and cook food. And food in my family was always a way that people kind of celebrated together, right? Getting to choose what was for dinner meant something. It was special. It was the way we came together.

It's also a way that I grew up showing we cared for people, right? Whether someone was struggling, you had them over for dinner, right? That food has this kind of magic power to connect us, to create community, to create that feeling of belonging. And so I've always had that.

It's also a way that I grew up showing we cared for people, right? Whether someone was struggling, you had them over for dinner, right? That food has this kind of magic power to connect us, to create community, to create that feeling of belonging. And so I've always had that.

And then after I graduated from college, I was pretty clear I wanted to get into the nonprofit sector and address some kind of social issue that was just not as, it wasn't right, right? So I was at that time in my life, I could get fired up about a lot of things, right? Whether it was educational inequity or housing policy or all sorts of things, right?

And then after I graduated from college, I was pretty clear I wanted to get into the nonprofit sector and address some kind of social issue that was just not as, it wasn't right, right? So I was at that time in my life, I could get fired up about a lot of things, right? Whether it was educational inequity or housing policy or all sorts of things, right?

But it just so ended up that my very first job out of college was at the food group. And so I worked in a variety of different roles there in our programming. And I think the piece that has kept me in this work is food feels quite solvable. There's a lot of things in the injustice in our society that feel really kind of intractable or complicated. Food to me feels quite solvable.

But it just so ended up that my very first job out of college was at the food group. And so I worked in a variety of different roles there in our programming. And I think the piece that has kept me in this work is food feels quite solvable. There's a lot of things in the injustice in our society that feel really kind of intractable or complicated. Food to me feels quite solvable.

We have enough resources. And if we can get the right people at the table, we really can make progress. And so that sense of possibility keeps me in the work.

We have enough resources. And if we can get the right people at the table, we really can make progress. And so that sense of possibility keeps me in the work.

Yeah. Well, the first group of the most right people are folks who are experiencing food insecurity, folks for whom food is not accessible in the way that, at least at the food group, we believe it should be. We believe that food is a human right. Everyone should have access to it. And that is just not the reality for many, many folks.

Yeah. Well, the first group of the most right people are folks who are experiencing food insecurity, folks for whom food is not accessible in the way that, at least at the food group, we believe it should be. We believe that food is a human right. Everyone should have access to it. And that is just not the reality for many, many folks.

And so for us, really understanding how can we engage those folks and listen carefully to the experiences that they're having and not make assumptions about it. I think it's so easy to make assumptions. I also think that kind of the charitable food system, how it was designed kind of as it rose up in the 80s to address food insecurity.

And so for us, really understanding how can we engage those folks and listen carefully to the experiences that they're having and not make assumptions about it. I think it's so easy to make assumptions. I also think that kind of the charitable food system, how it was designed kind of as it rose up in the 80s to address food insecurity.

It really has a kind of that old school charity mindset, right? Where people who have more are doing good to those who have less. And while there's some things about that that are okay, I think it's really trying to get more to the heart of the issue about how do people want to receive food? Where should it be accessed?

It really has a kind of that old school charity mindset, right? Where people who have more are doing good to those who have less. And while there's some things about that that are okay, I think it's really trying to get more to the heart of the issue about how do people want to receive food? Where should it be accessed?