As your local Minneapolis/St. Paul grocers, we believe in the importance of giving back. Our organizations, partners and employees have a long and rich history of taking an active role in bettering the communities we serve.
This commitment is represented by millions of dollars in financial and in-kind donations every year. We have had the pleasure of working with and donating to organizations focused on enriching residents and neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities and surrounding area.
Collectively, we donated over 29 million pounds (equal to nearly 24,000,000 meals) of food to Second Harvest Heartland through their Food Rescue Program in 2023 and 2024. We know this program helps our neighbors in need and upholds our commitment to helping do our part to make sure our worldwide food supply chain continues to feed as many people as possible.
“Second Harvest Heartland partners with local grocers to reroute wholesome food from the waste stream, redirecting it to fill the dinner plates of people facing hunger. Through the Retail Rescue program, local grocers donated over 14 million pounds of food to the Feeding America hunger-relief network in 2024, providing nearly 12 million meals to our neighbors.”
– Second Harvest Heartland
Beyond food donations, we support, champion and partner with various aid organizations throughout our communities with financial and in-kind support.
A sample of these groups is listed below:
- Twin Cities area schools
- Twin Cities humane societies
- Twin Cities area police, fire and other first responder community organizations
- Countless local fundraising events
Shakopee Cub donates close to $500,000 per year, including more than $135,000 to food shelters and more than $85,000 to Shakopee area schools.
Kowalski’s partners with Second Harvest donating more than 1 million pounds of food in 2023. The company also runs Kowalski’s 4 Kids, a private, nonprofit foundation to benefit children and has donated more than $2.5 million to local charities through its Groceries for Good Causes (GFGC) program.
Haug’s Cub is known for its community support with local food banks and area schools in Minnetonka and Coon Rapids.
Knowlan’s Festival Foods donated more than 660,000 pounds of food in 2024 to Second Harvest Heartland Food Rescue Program. They support local foods shelves through purchase to donate prepacked donation bag program that brings needed items into the food shelf inventory.
For the past few years, the employees have championed to collect donations for Every Meal from caring and generous customers, those donations exceed $58,000. Every Meal works to fight child hunger by delivering food to lockers on Fridays for kids that are food insecure over the weekend.
Lunds & Byerly’s donates more than 3.7 million pounds of food annually to Second Harvest Heartland through its food rescue program. Jerry’s Foods donated 2.5 million pounds of food last year for Second Harvest Heartland.
Cub stores collectively donate more than 6 million pounds of food yearly to Second Harvest Hartland as part of the fresh rescue program. The stores have donated more than $100,000 to Boys & Girls Clubs of The Twin Cities and $25,000 to the Salvation Army each year. They have donated $100,000 personally and $500,000 from in-kind donations to M Health Masonic Children’s Hospital. Finally, they donated $50,000 to the Ronald McDonald House of Minneapolis to renovate its kitchen.
In addition to its donations, sponsorships, and community giving, Corporate Cub created a community room at its Northside Cub store in North Minneapolis. A collaboration between local community and civic leaders, this unique and innovative partnership provides access to the space for mentoring, life skill coaching, job training, and much more. The space serves as a distribution hub for food shelf recipients every other week. Cub and its vendors have partnered to use the space to help volunteers and give back to the local kids and teachers in the area.