Brandon, South Dakota. (July 2, 2019) — Working together with CHS locations across the country, employees, community organizations and businesses, and farmers and ranchers of CHS joined the fight against rural hunger through the cooperative’s annual CHS Harvest for Hunger food, funds and grain drive. The annual campaign gathered more than $500,000 and 94,959 pounds of food to fight hunger in rural America. Locally, CHS raised $48,858.36 and 309 pounds of food for local food shelves.
Donations and contributions will be arriving at food shelves and other charitable organizations in the local communities served by CHS in the next few weeks. Since 2011, CHS Country Operations, a division of CHS, the nation’s leading farmer-owned cooperative, has organized the campaign to gather money and food for local and regional food shelves across the country. With this year’s total, the cooperative has now raised more than $6 million and 4.5 million pounds of food in the nine years since the campaign was first launched.
CHS locations along the southeast South Dakota, southwest Minnesota and northeast Nebraska cooridor participated in the 2019 Harvest for Hunger drive held March 1-20 through a variety of fundraising activities, including raffle sales and a chili cook-off.
“CHS Harvest for Hunger campaign is organized by our cooperative, but it is because of the generous contributions made by our employees, customers and community members that we can make such an impactful difference for those in need. We so graciously thank everyone who participated this year,” says Kent Mulder, general manager. “One in six people are food insecure, and that one person could be our neighbor or the family next door. We are in the business of feeding the world, but we may never realize who is facing hunger right here in our own communities. These organizations have the system and contacts in place to make sure everyone has a meal on the table, and that’s why it’s so important that we support these local organizations.”
Through this campaign, CHS was able to present a $29,433.36 check to Feeding South Dakota, the area’s regional food shelf. These dollars will go towards programs such as the Summer Backpack Program, Regional Food Pantry and the Mobile Food Pantry serving our rural communities.
“Feeding South Dakota is incredibly honored to partner with CHS in the fight against hunger,” says Christina Oey, development director, Feeding South Dakota. “We couldn’t do the work we do without their tremendous support, and we can’t thank them enough.”
Based on the funds raised, CHS was also able to contribute matching Harvest for Hunger campaign dollars back to local food shelves and other charitable organizations.
“We are glad to have so many great employees, customers and business partners that support us with their donations. Their support is what makes this year’s CHS Harvest for Hunger campaign another great success and enables us to help the food-insecure families in our local communities,” says Diana Nelson, CHS office assistant and committee chair.
Those receiving a portion of the matching dollars totaling $19,425 include: The Baltic Food Bank; Blue Dragon Foundation, Garretson, SD; Brandon Area Food Pantry; Breadbasket Moody County Food Pantry; Canton Food Pantry; Fulda Food Shelf; Kitchen Table Food Shelf of Tracy; Lighthouse Assembly of God – Lake Benton; Luverne Area Community Foundation; Murry County Food Shelf – Slayton; Northern Turner County Food Pantry – Parker; Pipestone County Food Shelf; Tyler Area Food Shelf; and Western Community Action – Marshall.
To learn more about how your local CHS cooperative is commited to making a long-lasting, measurable impact on rural America and to find further information about Harvest for Hunger, please visit our website, chsbrandon.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
The Brandon-based retail business delivers agronomy, energy, feed and grain products and services to South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska ag producers and other customers from 22 locations. It is part of CHS Inc., a leading global agribusiness owned by farmers, ranchers and cooperatives across the United States. Diversified in energy, agronomy, grains and foods, CHS is committed to helping its customers, farmer-owners and other stakeholders grow their businesses through its domestic and global operations. CHS supplies energy, crop nutrients, grain marketing services, animal feed, food and food ingredients along with financial and risk management services. The company operates petroleum refineries/pipelines and manufactures, markets and distributes Cenex® brand refined fuels, lubricants, propane and renewable energy products.
