The Open Door Pantry

The Open Door Pantry is our non-profit partner for the Saint Paul Turkey Trot. Read on for information on the great work they do!

The Open Door Pantry is a Minnesota-based hunger relief organization dedicated to ending local hunger through access to healthy food. The Open Door serves 5,000 Dakota County residents each month, and distributes over 1 million pounds of food annually, 70% of which is fresh and/or perishable. Clients are able to access healthy food choices through a fixed-site food pantry in Eagan, multiple Mobile Pantry sites, the Mobile Lunch Box, and the Garden To Table program. 

The Mobile Pantry is one of the more unique programs. It's innovative approach allows The Open Door to provide food support to those who lack reliable transportation. The Mobile Pantry bus travels to designated sites on a pre-arranged schedule, one neighborhood at a time. Clients check in at The Mobile Pantry and then walk through the bus to ‘shop’, selecting the foods they need. Like the Pantry food shelves, 70% of the food offered is fresh and perishable. The Mobile Pantry program has grown from 3 sites in 2012 to more than 20 sites in 2018.  The Open Door has the only Mobile Pantry in Dakota County, and volunteers and staff work tirelessly to make fresh and healthy food available in the parts of the community where it is needed most.  

For the first time in the history of the United States, there are more people living in Poverty in the Suburbs than the Urban Core (Brookings, 2016), and the challenges of Suburban Hunger require a different approach.  Having healthy food is wonderful, but it doesn’t do you any good if you cant get to it. That is why The Open Door created the Mobile Pantry program.

For more information, visit: theopendoorpantry.org