Prairie Public NewsRoom
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Great Plains Food Bank Director Melissa Sobolik ~ Linda LeGarde Grove

Ways To Subscribe

The Great Plains Food bank works to fight hunger for children, adults and families living across North Dakota and Clay County Minnesota. ~~~ Author Linda LeGarde Grover of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe is out with a new book, A Song Over Miskwaa Rapids. It's a mystery exploring land struggles, family, and history.

Great Plains Food Bank Transcript

Main Street

Each year, the Great Plains Food Bank delivers more than 12 million pounds of food, helping to provide more than 10 million meals for 145,000 residents of North Dakota and Western Minnesota.

And my guest is the director of the Great Plains Food Bank, Melissa Sobolik. Melissa, welcome to Main Street.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Thank you so much, Craig. It's a pleasure to be here.

Main Street

How would you describe the issue of food insecurity today here in our state?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

You know, it is really interesting. I will say hunger really hides in plain sight. So one in six of our neighbors sought food assistance last year.

Main Street

Does that statistic surprise people when you tell them?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Very much so. And I've been at the food bank for 16 years. And when I started, it was about one in 13.

So we're certainly not going in the right direction. But one in six of our neighbors, and it's very hidden. You wouldn't know it by looking at someone.

It's increasing, that amount is increasing. And that's, I mean, that is so many people in our community that don't know where their next meal is coming from.

Main Street

Before we continue on, Melissa, you have a personal story about how services like this helped you when you were younger.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Yeah, I do. So I grew up on a farm just outside of Courtney, North Dakota, and I was a free lunch kid. I never knew that growing up.

It was much later in life. My parents actually told me that. And I never felt different.

And when I actually went to college, I used SNAP. So it's the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which used to be known as food stamps, for a good portion of my college career. And it was all because I couldn't afford the meal plan.

My mom actually came to me and said, are you sure you're getting enough to eat? As moms do. And I said, well, you know, I'm fine.

I actually worked for the catering department at Concordia. And part of the reason I loved it was because we got a free meal at the end of the night. So I knew I always had a meal when I was working.

And so I worked a lot, but actually went and signed up for SNAP because I started to realize maybe I am not getting the nutrition that I need. And being a college student, I mean, you're pulled in many different directions. And I wanted to make sure that I was doing well at school.

And so I really had to swallow my pride and apply for the benefits and go through an interview. And then I remember the moment that I got approved. I got my card, I took it to the grocery store.

And I didn't buy the most nutritious thing. I bought Cheetos, bologna, and Mountain Dew. Now, everybody laughs at this, but for the first time in a long time, I was able to buy what I wanted and I felt normal.

I felt like this is what I want to eat. Now I had the option to actually purchase that for myself.

Main Street

So after college, how did you end up here?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Well, actually I would say I didn't tell the SNAP story very often. It was never something that I allowed to define me or who I was. And so when I started at the food bank, I didn't tell anyone.

It actually took about 10 years of me working before I started to see myself in the clients that we were serving. I could recognize those college students who were having a tough time. And all of a sudden, it really deepened my connection to this work.

I love rural North Dakota. I love a statewide organization. And I've always felt called to give and called to serve.

And this was my way of doing that. I have been here for 16 years, worked in four different positions. And just am so inspired and rewarded by the work that we do every day.

Main Street

Why do you think, Melissa, that the statistics are bending in the wrong way? That more North Dakotans are hungry than several years ago?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Well, I think, you know, during COVID, we obviously hit our high. We served 21 million pounds of food that year to 153,000 people. We knew that that was going to happen.

And I think the assumption was, as soon as COVID and the pandemic was over, things would go back to normal. We didn't go back to normal. This is an entirely new normal for us.

And we know that people are struggling with chronic diseases. We know that fuel and gas prices are high. Grocery prices are high.

They're not coming down as quick as we expected. We know that rural North Dakota doesn't have the jobs that more of the urban areas have. And so we are seeing more and more people needing assistance and actually coming forward and asking for it.

Main Street

So I have to ask, Melissa, if your goal in about 14 or 15 years is to have a hunger-free North Dakota, yet the problem is getting worse, how do you meld those two thoughts together?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Well, it's something I struggle with every day. And I think what's really important is thinking about hunger relief in two sort of different complementary tracks. So one is to increase the meals and the food that we're providing to people in need to make sure that they have food on their table, while at the same time working upstream to really reduce the need.

So how do we make sure people never need a food box in the first place? And that really is looking differently at the issue of hunger, because when a person is hungry, that's not the only thing that they have going on in their life. They're struggling with poverty and employment and housing and transportation and education.

So how do we start seeing hunger as one piece of that puzzle? And how do we help that person thrive so they could lift themselves up out of poverty? And that is the piece that we're really investing in at the food bank.

It's also the hardest piece because there's no playbook. There is no easy answer, no silver bullet. So we really are investing in like grassroots work, where we will go in and we'll work with a community or with individuals to find out what's going on and really start trying different programs and connecting them to different resources.

So we're looking at them holistically and addressing all of their issues.

Main Street

The next question can probably take you all day to answer.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Yes.

Main Street

But give us an idea of the scope of the services you provide.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

We are the one and only food bank in the entire state of North Dakota and we serve Clay County, Minnesota. And so our role really is to bring in surplus food that would otherwise go to waste. We bring it in, we inventory it, we put it on an online shopping system and then all 200 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters across our service area place an order once a month.

So they get to choose the food that they need to serve their community. And then we truck it out. And we deliver it directly to their door every single month.

And so that is the core work of food banking. And on top of that, we know that there are some geographic or gaps of the services. And so we do things like a mobile food pantry where we will pack boxes, we will put produce on a truck and bring it into a community that doesn't have a food pantry.

We offer things like the backpack program or youth summer meals to feed kids. And so we're always trying these new programs to meet people where they are. And that's really what drives us.

It's our core food banking work of meeting those food pantries and making sure they can do what they need to do. And then also coupling that with some innovative programs.

Main Street

Are you at the point where sometimes folks will make an order and you have to say, I'm sorry, we just don't have X, Y, or Z this month.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

So what has been really interesting, especially since COVID is we used to get the bulk of the food, 95% of the food donated that we serve through our warehouse. And we're distributing over a million pounds out of our Fargo warehouse in less than a month. And when COVID hit, we had a lot of food coming in but the food supply chain has not rebounded.

So you can look at our shelves and you will see that they are bare. There's a lot less food than we used to have. We have less donated.

It also means that we're purchasing more. So we are spending about $250,000 a month in purchasing product that we do not get donated. And those are staple items like peanut butter, tomato soup, those types of products.

But what's happening is we have less variety and we have less food. So yes, when agencies are placing their order, they're not able to get the quantities that they were before.

Main Street

Describe your relationships with a store here in Fargo that has extra food versus a store in Bowman or Williston that also has extra food. Can you take care of all of them in North Dakota?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Yeah, the short answer is yes, we can. So we actually, like here in Fargo, in Bismarck-Mandan, we have trucks and drivers that are going out every day, picking up from retailers. And that food never even comes to our warehouse.

It's going directly to a soup kitchen or a food pantry who can get it out that day. In our rural communities where we don't have a presence, we are connecting those food pantries or soup kitchens with that store and they're going to pick it up. So they're still getting that food.

They're still recovering it. It's not going to waste and it's getting it into those rural communities who really need it.

Main Street

Goes without saying that food is safe, but how do people know it's safe if the store now doesn't want to sell it anymore?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Yeah, so we actually have a pretty rigorous process where when we go to pick up food, we have a checklist and we are looking at food safety issues. We're looking at expiration dates versus best by dates. We know that we often get the ugly produce.

So it may not look the best, but it's still edible to eat. And so we're looking at all of that. We also make sure that all of the food that is picked up is being climate controlled until it goes directly to the clients.

And so food safety is a top priority for us. So we not only do that with our trucks and drivers, but we do the training with our agencies as well.

Main Street

You use probably hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Yes.

Main Street

How are those coordinated?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

We love our volunteers. They help us get product out all across the state. And actually they're not just volunteering in our warehouse here in Fargo or our service center out in Bismarck, but they're volunteering in their small communities helping us with our mobile food pantry when it comes to their community.

So we are always recruiting. The best link that we have is our website that shows all of our volunteer opportunities, whether they're out in rural communities or here in Fargo. And we also talk about all of the different ways and projects that people can participate in and give back.

Main Street

And again, I think it should be stressed. People can volunteer statewide through the Great Plains Food Bank.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

They can, yep.

Main Street

Describe your operations in Bismarck contrasting to what happens in Fargo.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Yeah, so Bismarck, we actually opened during COVID in November of 2020. We opened a 10,000 square foot facility there. That's compared to about a 42,000 square foot facility here.

And we have just been amazed at the community's outpouring of support in Bismarck. So it has turned into a very vibrant volunteer center where companies and kids at school and church groups are coming in and packing senior boxes. They're packing boxes for our mobile food pantry. And then it's also turned into a small warehouse that actually helps increase our efficiency by collecting some of the food donations around the Bismarck and Western North Dakota area.

So we're not having to truck them all the way back to Fargo to warehouse them, to truck them all the way back out to an agency.

Main Street

I'm not sure if this is the right way to phrase this question, but is there competition to serve those that maybe two or three different entities, nonprofits in North Dakota ultimately want to serve? And does that competition make things better or does it make things more challenging?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

You know, that's a very interesting question. And before I got into food banking, I worked at nonprofits who were in competition for funds because that was just the livelihood of those groups. I would say here, I have noticed that even with all of the food banks across the nation, and there's 200 of them, we all work together.

We all share best practices, we share documents so we don't have to recreate the wheel. And I think you'll find that culture here in North Dakota too. We really see our work at the food bank not as in competition, but in partnership with all of the food pantries who operate independently.

We work with schools, we work with healthcare partners, and really it's all of us on one team trying to end hunger versus us being in our own silos competing for clients and dollars. We all try to work ourselves out of a job every single day.

Main Street

That'd be great. Wouldn't it? We are enjoying our conversation with Melissa Sobolik, she is the director of the Great Plains Food Bank.

It's based here in Fargo, North Dakota. It's a group that helped 145,000 residents of North Dakota and Western Minnesota have meals last year.

What's your relationship with schools, Melissa?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

That is one of the interesting pieces. And we started working closely with schools back in 2009 where we started the Backpack Program. And it started in West Fargo with a counselor coming to us and saying, I actually saw an elementary kid who was dumpster diving for fruit to bring home to his younger sibling.

And when she came, she's like, what can we do? And those sorts of stories break your heart. And so we started the Backpack Program where we were packing kid-friendly food into backpacks and giving those backpacks to kiddos in the school systems on Friday.

So they had meals over the weekend for them and their sibling. That program quickly grew from about 40 students in that first year to over 2,000, which is what we're serving now in Fargo, West Fargo and Moorhead. That baffles me.

This is a project people love to get engaged with, but it's a project I hate that we have to have because those kids are not getting the nutrition that they need over the weekend when they don't have those school meals. And so we are able to fill that gap. We're also able to work with the schools to put in food pantries directly into their schools.

So the Backpack Program worked really great for elementary kids, but once you hit middle school and high school, there's a lot of pride and stigma attached with getting help. And so what we found is if we put a cupboard or changed a janitor's closet into a food pantry, the high school students will go, they'll sneak in, they'll get what they need, put it in their backpack, off they go. And we've also heard that families love it because when they're coming to sports activities at the school or they're picking their kids up, they can go directly and get food and they don't have to stand in another line or go somewhere else.

And so schools are a great partner in bringing different resources to those families. And we love that we can partner on creative solutions with them.

Main Street

Melissa, the holidays are in front of us. Is that a busier or maybe a more needed time of year for people or really is the need year round?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

You know, I would say that the need is certainly year round. We see a spike in clientele during the summer. And that's really when those kids are home, they're not getting their school meals.

So June, July, our numbers are a little high. And then definitely around the holiday season. And we hear more from families or from seniors around the holidays who have family coming in to visit and they're all gonna go to grandma's house.

And if grandma's struggling with food insecurity, now she has to feed a family of 10 for the holidays. So we often hear that they're coming to get food assistance at that time just to help supplement what they're able to purchase. And so it is a busier time.

People are getting together. I think holiday traditions really revolve around food and having meals. And so people are making sure that they've got plenty on the table.

Main Street

Melissa, when I entered your building, I noticed a sign downstairs. It was a reminder that Medicaid rules recently have changed. And that people who during COVID maybe were covered by Medicaid, maybe aren't now.

Has that impacted what you do?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

It has. So we do a lot of benefit navigation, whether it's helping people find their local food pantry, get signed up for WIC or for SNAP or Medicaid or Medicare. So we've gotten an increase in calls with people questioning what happened.

So we do a lot of education. And we often find that as soon as they fall off of those federal benefits, they're asking us where can they get food. And so we do see our numbers increase no matter where they are in the state, they're needing a little extra support.

Main Street

Are there any policies that you're aware of that need to be changed maybe at the state level that would help you?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

There's a lot. We actually have a pretty robust advocacy plan statewide and federally. We work very closely with the Farm Bill and all of the programs that it authorizes.

And there I think are a number of policies at the state level that could help.

Main Street

Give us some examples.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

You know, I would say the one that came up last time, the school meals, making them free for everyone. We were fortunate that the legislature changed it up to 200% of poverty. I'd love to see universal school meals in North Dakota.

There's also an interesting issue that has come up around shortage of butchers and USDA inspectors in the state around processing game and processing beef. And so that's something that we are looking into what other states have done when they've had these shortages to see if there's an opportunity for us to do something in North Dakota.

Main Street

Speaking of other states.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Yes.

Main Street

You're very familiar with what happens around the country. What state does this right?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Wow, that's a good question. And I don't know that anyone has the one answer. I think what I've learned in working with all, there's 200 food banks across the state or across the country.

And we get together often and share best practices. And I think what I've seen is what works in one area is not gonna work in another. North Dakota is very different than California or Florida.

Main Street

Rural versus urban, perhaps.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Absolutely. And I think you also have, we have our Native American reservations and our larger population in this area than there are in other areas. We also have different commodities that are grown here and don't have the ability for year-round produce being grown.

So I think no one has the answer. I think everyone has little pieces of the answer.

Main Street

How many people are employed here?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

We have, once we're fully staffed, we will be at 53 employees. And that's in Fargo and Bismarck.

Main Street

How do you raise funds?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

We are fundraising every single day. And we have a very robust development team. We have a culture of philanthropy here at the food bank where everyone sees their role in fundraising.

And we raise funds through foundations and grants and individual donors and corporate and churches. We do direct mail campaigns and we do a lot of digital social media.

Main Street

What is your role with churches?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

We actually work with a lot of churches. A lot of our food pantries are located in faith-based organizations like churches. And once you get out to those smaller communities, that's one of the entities that is stable in those communities is you have a church to rely on.

And so we work with them not only to do fundraising but have volunteer groups come in and volunteer groups out in the rural areas get engaged. And they're also operating their food pantries and soup kitchens.

Main Street

Melissa, if you could complete this sentence, one thing I really wish we could do better is... what?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Transportation. You know, we have to truck food to all corners of the state and I wish there was a more efficient way to do it. Maybe we'll have drones or driverless trucks someday.

Main Street

For those who are listening, who sense in their family that they have food insecurity but have never taken action to help, what should they do? What can they do now?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

You know, one of the things you can do quick and easy is to let them know it's okay. We have a lot of Prairie pride in this area. And I found that even by sharing my story has really high level set with people that anyone can need assistance and it's okay to ask for help.

So I would just reassure them that you're not judging them. It's okay to ask for help. If you're not certain if they need it and they don't wanna talk about it, just give them a little extra.

If you wanna drop groceries off at their door, that's a great way to do it. Or just get engaged in your local food pantry and start volunteering and giving back.

Main Street

And I think that's a great point. If people want to volunteer, they can come to your website, regardless of whether they're in Fargo or elsewhere.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Absolutely. So we have listed on our website, greatplainsfoodbank.org, all of the food pantries and soup kitchens in the state with their contact information. And if they don't have volunteer opportunities on the website, give them a call.

I know that they will take you.

Main Street

Is this place big enough for you, Melissa, where we're at today?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

That's a great question. We are outgrowing it. We're investing in staff.

We're trying to get more and more food coming in and going out. We will need more space in the short term.

Main Street

And as we conclude the interview, what is the biggest misconception people have about the Great Plains Food Bank?

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

The biggest misconception about what we do here is that we are not a food pantry.

And so I think when people think of food banks, their assumption is that we are handing food boxes out to people. We aren't. We are actually the warehouse that stores and collects all the food for all of the food pantries and soup kitchens.

So we're sort of that clearing house. And then we do do some programs, but we're not a food pantry.

Main Street

Melissa Sobolik, good luck with what you do. One in six North Dakotans face food insecurity and the Great Plains Food Bank tries to help with that problem. Thank you for joining us on Main Street.

Melissa Sobolik, Great Plains Food Bank

Thanks, Craig.