FAIRMONT– Heaven’s Table Food Shelf is expanding its offerings to better meet the needs of the people in Martin County. The Fairmont-based food shelf is in the process of starting up a food delivery program to help reach people in more rural communities.

Deb Adams, a long-time board member, said, “this is an additional effort to get food to people who need it. We’re bringing the food to people in various locations, rather than having everyone come to us.”

The delivery program will be done in addition to the regular food shelf hours.

Adams said that while they serve 700-800 families a year in Martin County, they know there are people who they’re not reaching.

The board is working on forming partnerships with local community leaders to bring food to the people there in the form of pre-packed, non perishable food boxes.

Adams said they did something similar during Covid in partnership with the city of Ceylon.

“It went quite well and that’s what got us thinking about doing it in other areas to hopefully reach people that aren’t getting to us,” Adams said.

She said part of what will make it work is if they have a partner in the community. Local community leaders would be responsible for distributing the boxes to the families who have contacted them. Heaven’s Table would only receive data on how many people are in the household and what their ages and dietary needs are.

If a city leaders can’t be the point person for whatever reason, they’ll look for other people in the community who are willing to help.

Earlier this month board member Diane Mosloski did the program for the first time in Northrop. This week a box drop was done in Ceylon.

Adams and Mosloski spoke to the Truman City Council last week and police chief Just Jobe offered to pick up the boxes in Fairmont and deliver them to Truman. Adams said they’ll be doing that for the first time in January.

“We reached out to all of the smaller communities in the county to make contact with them and connect with somebody to get this project going,” Adams said.

Heaven’s Table Food Shelf has always operated exclusively on a volunteer basis. There are six board members and Adams said they try to have two board members there each day Heaven’s Table is open.

However, Adams said in October Heaven’s Table hired its first staff person who works on site about six hours a day.

Still, the food shelf is in need of additional volunteers, especially with the new program starting up.

“We’re going to be needing people to pack the boxes and deliver the boxes,” Adams said.

Most of the food in the boxes, as well as the food on the shelves, comes from Second Harvest, a food bank out of the Twin Cities which Heaven’s Table has partnered with since its existence.

Heaven’s Table also gets items from local grocery stores and Adams said they rely on donations from the community year-round, which includes donations of local produce.

The new food delivery program is set up for two years with funds from the Schmeeckle Foundation and from Second Harvest. The plan is to do a food drop in each community once a month.

“We’re hoping this will be an ongoing program and that we’ll have volunteers able to help with the packing and delivering,” Adams said.

Heaven’s Table is located at 909 Winnebago Ave. in Fairmont. It’s open from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturdays. There is also a Heaven’s Table in Sherburn, which is open from 6 to 7 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and 9 to 10 a.m. on Saturdays.