The River Falls Food Pantry reached its building fund goal, with 80 people donating a total of $50,187 to the area food bank as of October 26 at 2:00 pm.

“We did it! (Well, all of you did it!)” a Facebook post Monday by the River Falls Community Food Pantry announced to area residents. Having previously partnered with the Otto Bremer Trust out of Saint Paul, Minnesota to have donations to the area food pantry’s building fund doubled by the Bremer Trust if a set goal of $50,00 was reached by early November, the pantry accomplished its goal with just 13 days left to go in the fundraiser. The funds will be used to help pay down the community food pantry’s mortgage, and for that, the pantry has many local donors to thank. With several anonymous donations and even one for $1,500 from a local church, the $300 donation putting things over the top came in just before noon on Monday, with another $100 coming from another donor to balance things out at a total $187 above the $50,000 goal.

Located at 705 St. Croix Street in River Falls, the private and and non-profit River Falls Community Food Pantry exists to help provide over 1,400 households in the River Falls School District with food, these households being classified as at poverty level or ALICE, an acronym standing for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. Food insecurity has remained high ever since 2008, and in April 2019 ground was broken on a $5,200 expansion of the local food pantry, for which the donations will help pay down the mortgage, now that the $50,000 goal has been reached. A big thank you to everyone who donated!