WDIO 

By Ethan Schurman

On Sunday, July 27th, United States Senator Amy Klobuchar visited Chum. This was a part of her support of Chum and a highlight of the importance of food assistance. Senator Klobuchar was given a tour of the shelter and how the food shelf supports the community in the Northland.

In St. Louis County, it is reported that approximately 11,500 households containing nearly 19,000 people on average participated monthly in the SNAP Program in 2024. Chum shared that they have seen around 85% of the same people coming into the food self throughout the week and has seen an increase in new faces recently.

Chum reported that food donations have decreased from last year. Inversely, the number of people coming in multiple times a month to get food is increasing. They shared with Klobuchar that last year they saw 787 new people use their services, and as of right now they are now at 2,009 new visitors.

With their numbers multiplying due to people coming in, Chum’s does not have enough donations to keep up with the demand. So, they are asking for donations of food or financially to help them continue their support of the community.

Senator Klobuchar provided this statement during a press conference when asked about her reflection of her tour and plans.

“This is one of the reasons we were already seeing these increases in part because when grocery prices go way up, there’s less to donate, there is everyone struggling, they need to use food shelves more and they need to use their SNAP benefits more. And so this is why I was so alarmed and voted against this bill recently because it went the opposite way. We did work to get the cuts down over 100 billion, but there’s still 185 billion nationally.”