Nancy Edmonds Hanson
hansonnanc@gmail.com

It started out with a discussion at M State about college students going hungry. “Hunger can be an issue among our students,” social worker Tyler Strand explains. According to a national study, nearly half of college students are considered “food insecure” – at least occasionally without enough food to last them through the end of the month.
Tyler’s counterpart at the M State campuses at Detroit Lakes and Wadena suggested a possible solution: Ruby’s Pantry. “At first we were thinking about struggling students on our campuses,” he says. “But then we realized we could branch out a lot farther.”
And here they are. On the fourth Tuesday of every month, dozens of local volunteers set up a benevolent grocery store in the old carpentry building in the northwest corner of the M State campus (officially, Minnesota Community and Technical College, one of four locations in the consortium). People whose pantries are bare start lining up at 5 p.m. Some have registered online beforehand; others simply walk in. They register at a station in the school, paying a flat $20 fee for whatever awaits them. Then, when names are called, each takes their 15-minute turn filling their containers in the warehouse.
Meanwhile, another volunteer contingent has convened at 3 p.m. in the former carpentry building in the northwest corner of the campus, when one of Ruby’s Pantry’s fleet of trucks pulled up to unload its ton of donated food. They’ve stocked it all inside in a sort of pop-up supermarket: bread, milk, bagged cereal, oatmeal, eggs, meat products, frozen potatoes and more, along with toilet tissue, paper towels and other sometimes-unexpected bounty. Tyler tells of the 5-gallon jug of pickles and the hundreds of hard-boiled egg that arrived with one monthly shipment. “No more – the smell was terrible,” he confides.
Each client is asked to bring two big laundry baskets or boxes to receive their allotment. They pass down the line, saying “yes” or “no” to each category of what the nonprofit has gathered from manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, supermarket chains and big-box retailers. At the end of the line, their totes are lined up outside, where yet another group of muscular helpers spends the next two hours loading the 50-pound containers into visitors’ cars for the trip back to their kitchens.
Ruby’s Pantry supplies the Moorhead pop-up pantry and others in 59 other cities across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The faith-based nonprofit has been making its monthly rounds since 2006, when an idea planted by its namesake in North Branch set out to feet the hungry in rural Minnesota. The organization receives no government funds; instead, it gathers its groceries and supplies from corporations who empty their store rooms of overstocks, mistakes and merchandise nearing expiration. Operating costs are covered by the $20 fee each participant pays per visit; while $18 is forwarded to run the organization, $2 of each fee stays in the community to fund other emergency aid programs operated by its sponsoring church.
Tyler explains that the local Ruby’s is a partnership between M State, which provides the site and student volunteers, and First Congregational United Church of Christ. The “front office” helps comes from the church, led by Pastor Michelle Webber, volunteer coordinator Dave Pretty and financial tracker Jennifer Nelson. Church members help staff the supermarket side, too, along with supervisor Tyler and helpers from Student Government and campus service clubs like the Auto Tech Club and construction management.
“Summer is a slow time for student volunteers,” Tyler comments. He says community service clubs and other organizations are more than welcome to lend a hand, now and throughout the year. Volunteers can sign up online at rubyspantry.org/volunteer/. After a background check, they’re given another registration site to choose their city, date and the hours they prefer.
Who qualifies to receive a share at Ruby’s pop-up supermarkets? “Anyone who eats,” the coordinator laughs. “There are no eligibility rules, no residency or income guidelines. Just come, register one time on your first visit, and you’re in.”
Visitors can pre-register at /rubyspantry.org/product-category/distribution-pre-registration/, choosing the time slot that suits them best. “There are just 120 pre-registration slots each month, and they fill up within a couple days after the last date,” he reports. “If they’re full, people can just come here that day. No one is ever turned away.” He adds that those who cannot pay even the nominal $20 fee can receive vouchers for that month contributed by the Moorhead Police Department or local businesses and groups.
Some 300 individuals and families show up for each monthly shopping trip. The campus social worker says the crowd runs the gamut from single mothers and parents with two or three kids in tow to a large number of adults between 25 and 40, along with older and occasional younger clients. “Our students aren’t what you picture as the typical college student,” he notes. “Their average age is 24. Times are a lot different now. The dynamics are different.”
At the end of each distribution date, most food that may be left is divided between the Emergency Food Pantry and other local feeding programs. Some, though, is retained for the school’s own community food shelf on campus, where hungry students can pick up ramen, protein snack bars, cereal and other quick fuel. Ready-to-eat is the most popular, rather than items that need kitchen preparation: “You don’t stop to think … many of our people don’t have anywhere to cook,” he points out.
Tyler lauds the M State campus community for its support of Ruby’s Pantry: “Our M State staff is really good about helping, contributing and promoting it to our students. It helps everybody. This is something really special to be a part of.
“We started out doing this to help make higher education as achievable as it possibly can be,” he continues. “We have so many first-generation college students here. This is one way we can help hard-working men and women keep on track to achieve their dreams.”
The next Ruby’s Pantry day at M State is Tuesday, July 23.

Nancy Edmonds Hanson
hansonnanc@gmail.com
Food shelf at M State feeds hungry people in a pinch

It started out with a discussion at M State about college students going hungry. “Hunger can be an issue among our students,” social worker Tyler Strand explains. According to a national study, nearly half of college students are considered “food insecure” – at least occasionally without enough food to last them through the end of the month.
Tyler’s counterpart at the M State campuses at Detroit Lakes and Wadena suggested a possible solution: Ruby’s Pantry. “At first we were thinking about struggling students on our campuses,” he says. “But then we realized we could branch out a lot farther.”
And here they are. On the fourth Tuesday of every month, dozens of local volunteers set up a benevolent grocery store in the old carpentry building in the northwest corner of the M State campus (officially, Minnesota Community and Technical College, one of four locations in the consortium). People whose pantries are bare start lining up at 5 p.m. Some have registered online beforehand; others simply walk in. They register at a station in the school, paying a flat $20 fee for whatever awaits them. Then, when names are called, each takes their 15-minute turn filling their containers in the warehouse.
Meanwhile, another volunteer contingent has convened at 3 p.m. in the former carpentry building in the northwest corner of the campus, when one of Ruby’s Pantry’s fleet of trucks pulled up to unload its ton of donated food. They’ve stocked it all inside in a sort of pop-up supermarket: bread, milk, bagged cereal, oatmeal, eggs, meat products, frozen potatoes and more, along with toilet tissue, paper towels and other sometimes-unexpected bounty. Tyler tells of the 5-gallon jug of pickles and the hundreds of hard-boiled egg that arrived with one monthly shipment. “No more – the smell was terrible,” he confides.
Each client is asked to bring two big laundry baskets or boxes to receive their allotment. They pass down the line, saying “yes” or “no” to each category of what the nonprofit has gathered from manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, supermarket chains and big-box retailers. At the end of the line, their totes are lined up outside, where yet another group of muscular helpers spends the next two hours loading the 50-pound containers into visitors’ cars for the trip back to their kitchens.
Ruby’s Pantry supplies the Moorhead pop-up pantry and others in 59 other cities across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The faith-based nonprofit has been making its monthly rounds since 2006, when an idea planted by its namesake in North Branch set out to feet the hungry in rural Minnesota. The organization receives no government funds; instead, it gathers its groceries and supplies from corporations who empty their store rooms of overstocks, mistakes and merchandise nearing expiration. Operating costs are covered by the $20 fee each participant pays per visit; while $18 is forwarded to run the organization, $2 of each fee stays in the community to fund other emergency aid programs operated by its sponsoring church.
Tyler explains that the local Ruby’s is a partnership between M State, which provides the site and student volunteers, and First Congregational United Church of Christ. The “front office” helps comes from the church, led by Pastor Michelle Webber, volunteer coordinator Dave Pretty and financial tracker Jennifer Nelson. Church members help staff the supermarket side, too, along with supervisor Tyler and helpers from Student Government and campus service clubs like the Auto Tech Club and construction management.
“Summer is a slow time for student volunteers,” Tyler comments. He says community service clubs and other organizations are more than welcome to lend a hand, now and throughout the year. Volunteers can sign up online at rubyspantry.org/volunteer/. After a background check, they’re given another registration site to choose their city, date and the hours they prefer.
Who qualifies to receive a share at Ruby’s pop-up supermarkets? “Anyone who eats,” the coordinator laughs. “There are no eligibility rules, no residency or income guidelines. Just come, register one time on your first visit, and you’re in.”
Visitors can pre-register at /rubyspantry.org/product-category/distribution-pre-registration/, choosing the time slot that suits them best. “There are just 120 pre-registration slots each month, and they fill up within a couple days after the last date,” he reports. “If they’re full, people can just come here that day. No one is ever turned away.” He adds that those who cannot pay even the nominal $20 fee can receive vouchers for that month contributed by the Moorhead Police Department or local businesses and groups.
Some 300 individuals and families show up for each monthly shopping trip. The campus social worker says the crowd runs the gamut from single mothers and parents with two or three kids in tow to a large number of adults between 25 and 40, along with older and occasional younger clients. “Our students aren’t what you picture as the typical college student,” he notes. “Their average age is 24. Times are a lot different now. The dynamics are different.”
At the end of each distribution date, most food that may be left is divided between the Emergency Food Pantry and other local feeding programs. Some, though, is retained for the school’s own community food shelf on campus, where hungry students can pick up ramen, protein snack bars, cereal and other quick fuel. Ready-to-eat is the most popular, rather than items that need kitchen preparation: “You don’t stop to think … many of our people don’t have anywhere to cook,” he points out.
Tyler lauds the M State campus community for its support of Ruby’s Pantry: “Our M State staff is really good about helping, contributing and promoting it to our students. It helps everybody. This is something really special to be a part of.
“We started out doing this to help make higher education as achievable as it possibly can be,” he continues. “We have so many first-generation college students here. This is one way we can help hard-working men and women keep on track to achieve their dreams.”
The next Ruby’s Pantry day at M State is Tuesday, July 23.