Most of us think of libraries as a place to peruse and check out books, use a computer, conduct research for a school paper and find resources to help with a job search. But the city of New Ulm is taking the community resource aspect of its public library to a whole new level, providing frozen meals and fresh produce for residents to take home.

The New Ulm Public Library’s new community fridge and freezer were installed last week as a free resource to residents experiencing food insecurity. It’s found on the main level near the Children’s Room. Visitors can take home items such as frozen kale and bananas, fresh cantaloupes and green beans and even some pre-made frozen meals.

It’s funded by the Brown County Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP), developed in partnership with the Food Environment Action Team and the Heart of New Ulm Project, a community-driven public health initiative.

Tom Polich spent Tuesday morning restocking the fridge and freezer with frozen ham stew and honey and lime chicken dinners, bananas, kale, carrots and other foods. Polich is the regional food rescue coordinator of Region Nine Development Commission — a multi-county public planning and regional government agency based in Mankato.

He told MPR News the library’s community freezer and fridge provide another resource to the growing number of residents of the community who don’t have enough to eat.

“They don’t have to make a special trip somewhere,” Polich said. They can still utilize the food shelves in our area, but a lot of them are only allowed to use the food shelf once a month.”

And while New Ulm does already have a food shelf, said April Ide, director of the New Ulm Public Library, adding a community fridge and freezer in a place that’s visited often helps broaden access to those in need.

“We’re all about access to information and resources, and we a lot of times are answering questions from patrons where we’re trying to point them in the direction of our local resources to meet their needs,” Ide said, “It’s great for us to be able to offer one [of those resources] right here at the library.”

The New Ulm Community Fridge and Freezer is open to anyone in the community — no questions asked. There are no forms to fill out; there’s no need to sign-up in advance. People don’t even need a library card; they can just walk in and take out some vegetables, fruits or a ready-to-bake or heat meal from the community fridge and freezer.

“Our food shelf does a great job, but the library is just open [during] a really diverse set of hours,” said Kaitlin Gawrsich, manager of The Heart of New Ulm, which is a community-driven public health initiative.

“They’re also open on the weekend. They’re also open in the evening. They’re open in the morning. Just kind of works for everyone, and it’s just a really accessible place,” Gawrsich added. “[It’s] a really dignified way to get what you need and meet those needs. There’s no stigma for visiting the library. Anyone can be here. Everyone’s welcome.”

The New Ulm community fridge and freezer also helps fight food waste, by gathering up and then handing out food that otherwise would’ve been tossed away in dumpsters and headed to landfills.

Polich said that the South Central Minnesota Food Recovery Program based in Mankato, Minn. takes surplus food from local restaurants, grocery stores and big chains such as Walmart, and even area farms, and distributes those food items to food shelves and community fridges.

Similar community fridges are found elsewhere around the Mankato area, most often at health and medical clinics. The food recovery program says it has rescued over 10,000 pounds of food from different sites in the past six months.

“Without the food rescue, a lot of this would have ended up in places like landfills which causes environmental issues, it’s just kind of the right thing to do,” Polich said. “The food is good stuff, and we just want to make sure it goes out to feed people. We always say, ‘save the food, feed the people.’”

Overall, there has been a warm reception to the fridge and freezer, Ide said, and she’s glad that the library can be one place where people can get what they need.

The demand for food aid across Minnesota is on the rise. Second Harvest Heartland told MPR News that the regional food bank distributed a record-breaking 172 million pounds of food in the last year. That’s 20 percent more food than the nonprofit distributed four years ago, and a 500 percent increase over what it provided 20 years ago.

“What we’re seeing is that our neighbors are needing more support than ever,” said Toni Scott, chief supply chain officer at Second Harvest Heartland, “and while we are doing all that we can to keep up, we are also struggling to meet the need.”

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.