As winter approaches and food insecurity spikes, the nearly 100-year-old Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood relies heavily on paper grocery bags to distribute essential meals through its choice-model food shelf. The food shelf model provides options that keep diet, culture and religion in mind.
"An emergency shelf gives you what you need, but dignity can be lost if someone can’t eat gluten or the food is not kosher," said Hallie Q. Brown Community Center CEO Benny Roberts.
Keeping that shopping experience discreet and dignified takes resources, and the historic center was burning through roughly 100 paper bags a day. Fortunately, local Hy-Vee stores answered the call, stepping up to donate 2,000 durable paper bags to help bridge the shortfall.
"I’m blown away," Roberts said of the response. "I always start with having a posture of gratitude because no one has to give us a single thing. The fact that they chose to and across all these stores totaling 2,000 bags, that’s significant. This was so over the top in generosity."
Because the pantry allows neighbors to select items tailored to specific dietary, cultural and religious needs, the brown bags are essential to maintaining a shopping experience rooted in privacy and dignity. The bags are also durable and hold up to 25 pounds of groceries each, outperforming plastic alternatives.
For the folks at Hy-Vee, helping was a no-brainer.
“It's a small gesture, but we hope it helps neighbors facing food insecurity feel cared for,” said Dawn Buzynski, Hy-Vee director of communications. “We believe everyone should have access to food and receive it with dignity.”
Hy-Vee is donating 500 bags each from its four stores in Cottage Grove, Eagan, Maplewood and Oakdale. The donation is especially helpful to the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center as it operates on a lean, efficiency-first model where every saved dollar goes right back into community programming.
"Purchasing bags is an overhead. Each bag is a reduction in expense for us," Roberts explained, noting that the 2,000 bags will cover nearly a month's worth of grocery distribution. "It seems like a small deal, but we go through 100 bags a day in our food shelf. This is a month's worth of grocery bags that we can put our neighbors' food in."
True to his word, Roberts and his staff are making it a priority to show their appreciation personally. "My team is going to pick up the bags so we can say thank you. We want to be able to do that."
As "the headquarters of the Rondo community" continues to provide vital wraparound services—including a free health clinic, veteran support and educational hubs—the bag donation allows the center to focus on the countless other needs it addresses as it helps neighbors navigate higher costs heading into the colder months in Minnesota.
Community members still looking to support the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center can drop off clean paper grocery bags or make financial donations at 270 N. Kent St. in St. Paul, or online at hallieqbrown.org.
