The Brian Coyle Center youth program in Cedar-Riverside sends youth to streets to clean sidewalks and create safer spaces for the community. 

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By Atra Mohamed / The Hubbard School

Brian Coyle Center's food program provides nourishment to thousands of families every year.

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Story by Atra Mohamed / The Hubbard School

Every year, the Brian Coyle Neighborhood Center's food program provides food to thousands of families. 

“Our mission is to reduce hunger,” said Ganga Acharya, the food program coordinator at the center, which is part of the Pillsbury United Community and is adjacent to Riverside Plaza. 

The center offers a range of services beyond the food bank, including community health, family services, community advocacy, economic mobility and career and future readiness education. 

But the food bank is one of its most important services — offered to newcomers or to longtime community members who face food insecurity, including elderly people who cannot prepare meals, Acharya said. 

The program is held four times a month — twice for dried and canned foods and twice for produce. Additionally, ready-made food is offered daily in partnership with Oasis Mediterranean Grill in Minneapolis for elderly people.

The food bank was founded in 1993 and has operated without interruption in a community that is more than 41% foreign-born, according to the most recent Census. 

In the past few years, the bank has seen demand for its service soar as inflation caused food prices to rise and further waves of immigrants moved to the area, said Amano Dube, the center’s program director. 

Meanwhile, extra resources provided during the pandemic have recently dried up, which is straining the center’s operation, Dube and Acharya said.

“Even with a limited budget and resources, we serve over 600 families every month,” Acharya said.

Kadija Bashir said she has been using the food shelf since moving to the Twin Cities three weeks ago from Colorado with her husband and three of her nine children. She said she is grateful to have found such a supportive community.

“We haven’t gotten jobs yet, so this is my second time getting food from here, and it has been a great help for us,” Bashir said.

For many longtime community members the food program plays an important role in reducing food insecurities, Acharya said.

Asankech Wolde, 76,  said buying nutritious food is difficult on a fixed income, so she goes to Brian Coyle for help twice a month. 

“I don’t know what else I would have done if it wasn’t for this food program,” Wolde said.

The food bank also tries to cater to the cultural needs of its heavily Muslim community. It does not carry pork products, for example. 

“Some of our consumers come from far away neighborhoods because we are one of the few food programs that serve halal food,” Acharya said.

The food comes from the Second Harvest Heartland, one of the largest food banks in the nation, and The Food Group, which is the first food bank in Minnesota, according to its website.

Salam Budena, 73, said he visits the Brian Coyle food program every month and has no complaints — except that it’s popular. 

“The food is good, but I don’t like the long line,” Salam said. Sometimes he spends more than an hour before it’s his turn to collect his food, he said on a recent sweltering day. “Even in this kind of weather,” he said.