“360 Communities Changed My Life”: How a Rosemount Food Shelf is Providing More Than Food

The first thing you notice when you meet Lisa is her bright, welcoming smile. It lights up her face and you can’t help but smile back. Lisa is from the west side of Saint Paul and is the manager of a pizza restaurant. She has four grown children, and her husband works as an electrician. But a few years ago, a tragedy struck her family that had major ripple effects on Lisa’s life.

“My stepson passed away from a fentanyl overdose and my husband couldn't work. Couldn't get out of bed,” Lisa said. “So, we ended up losing our house and living in our car and in hotels once in a while for about two years.”

Lisa stands in the 360 Communities food shelf she once visited for groceries. She now sends her staff there to help them stretch their budgets.

Although Lisa had been to school to study nursing and had many skills, she struggled to keep steady employment during this time. “It's hard to keep a job when you're not having a home,” she explained. “It's hard to go to work every day when you don't have a place to shower.”

But after two years, they were able to get connected with a new apartment. Unfortunately, that’s when health issues struck the couple. “I ended up having a stroke in April of last year and I had to take time off,” Lisa said. “My husband had blood clots in his legs. We were just not doing good, and we almost lost our apartment.”

With Lisa and her husband facing eviction, they turned to Second Harvest Heartland partner 360 Communities in Rosemount for help. A volunteer walked Lisa through the intake process when she came in for her appointment and, despite coming for help with rent, encouraged her to take some food home as well. “When I came here to apply and everything, they let me go through the food shelf and I had never been to the food shelf.”

But along with that food, 360 Communities provided something even more valuable to Lisa: funding to help her pay for her housing. Within a week of her first appointment, a 360 Communities staff member drove a check to Lisa’s apartment building to help cover her rent while Lisa was working, saving her apartment.

As Sara Felix, food shelf site coordinator at 360 Communities, explained, “One thing that is really unique about our model is when folks come in here, they get to come in and get food, but we also sit them down with a resource support worker. That person's job is to help identify what other barriers they are going through. How can we help meet the whole needs that you have and really think about things holistically?”

360 Communities is a great example of a program impacting the root causes of hunger, by providing not only access to food through their food shelf but also providing stability—through resources like housing help—to assist neighbors in affording food in the future.

“360 Communities changed my life,” said Lisa. “I couldn't believe how simple, for one, it was to come in here and apply [for assistance]. They had a check ready within like 4 days. This doesn't happen at any other place that I know of.”

Lisa’s husband is working as an electrician again and both are now in much better health. In an effort to return the kindness she experienced, she regularly sends pizzas to 360 Communities for the staff and volunteers to enjoy during their shifts. Lisa also sends her team members to 360 Communities’ food shelf if they need help stretching their budgets. “It's expensive to have children and feed them,” she said of letting others know about 360 Communities. “Everybody needs help at least one time in their life. Everybody needs help with something.”