Eagan's 150th Anniversary Food and Fund Drive Wins Humphrey Center award

When a group of Eagan community leaders met in late 2009 for ideas to mark the city’s 150^th anniversary, they decided that in addition to parades, community celebrations and speeches, an ambitious charitable giving goal might be in order. They thought they had set the bar fairly high.

They were way off.

“We were looking for some service project to give back to the community,” said Scott Swenson, chair of Eagan’s 150the Volunteer Committee. “So we went to the two food shelves and said, 'how much food did you distribute last year?'”

Information in hand, the group set a goal to raise 150,000 pounds of food, 1,000 pounds of food for each of the city’s first 150 years.

“We wanted to make it a challenge,” Swenson said with a laugh. “We weren’t even close.”

The effort, which eventually raised more than 380,000 pounds of food, was honored April 13 with a Local Government Innovation award from The Humphrey School’s Public and Nonprofit Leadership Center. The award recognizes outstanding cities, counties and schools in Minnesota that demonstrate results in improving local services.

“I’m so proud that this community was able to honor its 150th by generously giving to fight hunger,” says Swenson. “It shows the power of what all of
us — citizens, businesses, churches, clubs and city staff — can accomplish by
working together.”

All food, and any monetary donations, was donated to two local food shelves which serve Eagan, the Eagan Resource Center and 360 Communities.

“It was a gesture of hope in a time when many despaired,” said Lisa Horn of the Eagan Resource Center, who nominated the city for the Humphrey Center award in remarks written for the awards ceremony.

At the kickoff event for the city’s 150^th anniversary in early January 2010, Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire announced the 150,000 pound goal and encouraged Eagan businesses, community members, schools, faith communities, service organizations, city departments and nonprofit organizations to step forward to help eliminate hunger, a growing problem in what many would consider an affluent suburb.

“The time was right,” Horn acknowledged. “In 2010, there was a 16 percent jump in visits to food shelves in the nine‐country metro area in 2010. Dakota County was one of two counties, and the only metro county in Minnesota that outpaced other metro counties with a 22 percent increases in access to food shelves.”

Using a combination of traditional and social media strategies to get the word out, the goal of 150,000 pounds of food was passed by March.

“As word got out we fairly quickly blew by that first goal,” said Swenson. “We decided to reset the goal and double it to 300,000, 150,000 pounds to mark the city’s next 150 years. We beat that goal, too.”

The food and funds came in a dizzying manner of ways.

• During the Eagan FunFest and Fourth of July parade, dozens of community volunteers, including the local food shelf, collected food and raised awareness of hunger.

• Proceeds from an old-fashioned baseball game and community picnic in August with a team of local celebrities playing the Minnesota Quicksteps went to the local food shelves.

• At the National Night Out event in August, more than 180 neighborhood block parties raised 36,648 pounds of food and nearly $8,000 for the hungry.

• Glacier Hills Elementary students collected more than 4,000 pounds of food and were rewarded with extra recess with the school principal and local volunteer firefighters.

• At the first Taste of Eagan event in October, 27 local restaurants donated food and time for the event, which attracted more than 400 people and raised $6,000. 

In all, more than 110 groups - – businesses, community members, schools, faith communities, service organizations, city departments and nonprofit organizations – responded to the rallying cry of city leaders and surpassed the second goal of 300,000 pounds of food by raising almost 400,000 pounds of food.

The 150^th goal elevated the awareness of the issue of hunger to such a degree that the local Eagan food shelf was able to raise an additional $81,000 in a special appeal to build a new space in the Eagan Cedarvale Business Center," Horn said, tripling its space and changing the delivery of service in order to provide a more dignified, substantial experience for families.

Early this year, the Sesquicentennial Committee, City of Eagan and local food shelves developed a plan to engage the 2010 partners and the community to sustain the momentum of the successful campaign.

Swenson said, “It really brought the community together ... [Hopefully] in some lasting ways.”