Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless
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Mission Statement
Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless believes that all Minnesotans should be free from hunger and homelessness.
About This Cause
At Open Your Heart, we believe that food, shelter and safety are essential to the overall well-being of all people. Unless a person experiencing homelessness is able to access a safe sheltered environment, the essential next steps of housing and self-sufficiency are much more difficult to obtain. Each year we provide support to over 200 different shelters, homeless outreach programs and food shelves throughout Minnesota. We reach out to and support programs in small communities throughout Minnesota who do not usually receive support from larger metro based or statewide funders. We listen closely to the needs and challenges faced by the organizations we serve and ensure that we respond quickly by developing special projects, bringing together partner funders and utilizing local media focus to meet compelling needs. Although typically ranging from $2,000 - $10,000, our grants have significant impact on small programs. Through direct and technical support, we ensure that shelters, homeless outreach programs and food shelves have the facilities, equipment, security, and technology necessary to best serve those in need. We focus on improving facilities and ensuring safe, dignified environments. To increase capacity and add comfort, we improve agencies facilities by adding bathrooms and kitchens, enhancing security, replacing floor mats with beds, providing fresh prepared food instead of packaged, and much more. We help charities for school and education secure school supplies and winter clothing, pay for activity fees and much more so that children and youth experiencing homelessness can participate fully in school and have the same necessities as other students. Since 1986, Open Your Heart has targeted millions of dollars to strategically fight hunger in Minnesota. Understanding that those who benefit from food shelves, primarily children, need more fresh produce and other nutritious food, Open Your Heart focuses on investing in infrastructure to allow food shelves throughout the state to regularly stock and distribute fresh and frozen foods. Furthermore, Open Your Heart’s Annual Summer Challenge makes it possible for Minnesota food shelves to restock and distribute fresh and frozen foods during the summer months when monetary and food donations are traditionally low.