Our Response to COVID-19
“I picked up some food this morning, and wow, thank you very much. The cart was very complete and will be very helpful. It was great to be greeted by Kenny and his smile, all the smiles!”
- A Valley Outreach Client
Dear supporters of Valley Outreach,

We were planning to relaunch our email newsletter this month. This is not it. Like many plans last week, things changed. We're OK with that because - thanks to all our supporters - we can continue to provide food and phone-based support to members of our community in need.

With that, we're re-purposing this month's newsletter to share our recent COVID-19-related updates and responses to frequently asked questions.

Let's make it better. Together.

  • We are open to clients for drive-up food service Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. We are prioritizing food distribution and phone-based support.

  • We are accepting both financial and shelf-stable, non-perishable food and personal care items. We're temporarily accepting drive-up donations at the loading dock in the back of our building Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. We are not accepting clothing donations currently. 

  • Our building is closed to the public. Our clothing program, StyleXchange, is closed and Bonus Friday is canceled for the time being.


Thank You for Helping Us Support the Community Safely and Equitably It's been really inspiring to see the community pull together (even if it's from a distance). Last week, we served more than 300 households through our temporary service model. The spirit of giving, desire to help others and supporting local nonprofits and businesses is very comforting.

Read our full post from Friday, March 20 to learn more about how and why we're focusing on safely and equitably distributing food.
Last week, in the cold drive-up line, a client, with tears in their eyes, said, "Thank you for continuing to do what you do. It means a lot."

Thank you to the community who makes our work possible!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How can I help?
A: The best way to help is by making donations – both financial and shelf-stable, non-perishable food and personal care items. It’s wonderful to see the energy our community has to help people in need. For the safety of everyone, we are not onboarding new volunteers currently to comply with CDC social distancing guidelines. We do encourage those interested in volunteering to apply on our website . We anticipate needing a lot of volunteers when we get our operations running at full strength. We’ll follow-up later this spring. 

Q: Can I volunteer at Valley Outreach right now?

We’d love for you to apply online . We anticipate a great need for volunteers as our operations get back to full strength. We’ll keep your information and contact you at a later date. 

Q: Can I drop off the March FoodShare items that I’ve collected?
A: Yes. We are accepting shelf-stable, non-perishable food items and personal care items. Our drive-up donation hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Donations should be brought to the loading dock in the back of our building. These donations must be collected and weighed in by staff from Valley Outreach to ensure we’re maintaining food safety standards and tracking our inventory. Please do not leave donations outside our doors. If these hours do not work, please call our main line 651-430-2739.
Stay tuned to www.valleyoutreachmn.org and our social media for updates.
This email was sent to our updated newsletter distribution list of Valley Outreach supporters - our volunteers, donors who've shared their emails with us and subscribers to our previous email newsletter.

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Valley Outreach | www.valleyoutreachmn.org
651-430-2739