Walker Area Food Shelf

07/27/2026

🌱 Fresh veggies taste better when they’re shared with neighbors! 🥬🍅

If you’ve strolled by the Walker Community Garden lately, you’ve probably seen our plot bursting with green. We love growing wholesome, sun-ripened produce for families visiting the Walker Area Food Shelf—but with harvest season in full swing, our garden can’t do it alone!

Got extra zucchini taking over your counter? More tomatoes than your kitchen can keep up with? Don't let your backyard abundance go to waste!

Drop off your extra garden harvest with us: 📍 Where: Walker Area Food Shelf ⏰ When: Every morning from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Whether it's a couple of cucumbers or a whole basket of green beans, your homegrown produce makes a huge difference on local dinner tables.

Thank you for helping us keep Walker healthy and fed—one harvest at a time! 💚

Like, comment, or share to help us spread the word to local growers!

06/30/2026

In 2025, Minnesota food shelves reported more than 9 million visits – 3 million of which were children, setting a record for the fourth consecutive year. Additionally, when school is out, many children miss out on the free school meals and families struggle to increase their food budgets and turn to the food shelf for support.

Food shelf demand peaks while donations often dip to their lowest levels during summer.

More families are experiencing economic hardship due to inflation and soaring food and gas prices and food shelves are seeing a greater level of need. That is why the Walker Area Food Shelf is here and continuing to meet the rising need in the community.

To help us ensure our community members have the food resources they need, we are participating in the Open Your Heart (OYH) Summer Challenge. Open Your Heart helps fund solutions to end hunger and homelessness in Minnesota. You can make a difference by donating throughout the month of July.

The more you donate, the larger our food shelf’s grant from Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless will be. The challenge funds will proportionally match donations. Your financial donation will go further due to our buying power. The food shelf can purchase food from our food bank for pennies on the pound.

Consider making a financial contribution to the Walker Area Food Shelf during the month of July and help those who rely on us to meet their daily food needs. Your contribution of any amount will have a significant impact on our efforts to fight hunger in our community by leveraging proportionally matched dollars from Open Your Heart.

Make checks payable to and send to: Walker Area Food Shelf, PO Box 1101, Walker, MN 56484 or by Venmo or PayPal at https://walkerareafoodshelf.org

06/26/2026

When school is out, many children miss out on the free school meals and families turn to the food shelf for support.
The food shelf demand peaks while donations often dip to their lowest levels during summer. More families are experiencing economic hardship due to inflation and soaring food and gas prices and we are seeing a greater level of need. You can make a difference by donating throughout the month of July. The more you donate, the larger our food shelf’s grant from Open Your Heart to the hungry will be. The challenge funds will proportionally match your donation. Your financial donation will go further due to our buying power. We can purchase food from our food bank for pennies on the pound. Donate today by sending a check to the Walker Area Food Shelf at PO Box 1101, Walker, MN 56484 or by Venmo or PayPal at https://walkerareafoodshelf.com.

06/24/2026

🌟 Where to begin...THANK YOU to our Underwriters Dave & Karen Cochran, Spitzack Builders Inc., Loney Sales & Service, Willow & Water Wellness & IV, Mirabilis Health, Northern Harbor Dock & Lift; to Jackie Collins for cooking the pulled pork and chicken; to St. Agnes for the use of your kitchen and to all our volunteers that baked and bagged cookies and served at the Walker Bay Live event. Also, thank you Kristin Holly and her Walker Bay Live crew for partnering with the Walker Area Food Shelf for the first event of the 2026 season. It takes a village! 🌟
*Photo by Jerry Eklund Photography*

06/15/2026

📣 Supporter Spotlight! 📣

Thank you, Terri Fierstine, CJ Greene, and Pat & Jamie Richter for all your hard work in getting the Foods Shelf garden plots ready and planted at the Walker Community Garden. Vegetable and flower plants were donated by CJ Green, the Backus Greenhouse and Brittany’s Floral. Everything grown in our plots are enjoyed by our neighbors visiting the Walker Area Food Shelf.

06/04/2026

✨ We hope to see you there! ✨

The warm weather has arrived and we are excited to bring the 2026 Walker Bay Live schedule to our concert-goers and readers.

Walker Bay Live takes place every Thursday starting June 18 and will run through Sep. 3. The free, weekly summer concert series runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at rotating locations around Walker featuring live music, food, brews, art and fun.

Past and recurring locations include Walker City Park Playground, Chase on the Lake Resort, Walker Marine and Chumley Park located next to First National Bank.

Our kickoff to summer begins June 18 at the Walker upper city park, a fundraiser for the Walker Area Food Shelf. Volunteers with the Walker Area Food Shelf will be serving pulled pork, pulled chicken (served on a bakery bun) with chips and a bottle of water for $10 a plate. Cookies will also be sold for $1 each.

All proceeds benefit the Walker Area Food Shelf for our neighbors experiencing food insecurity. You may also donate your favorite non-perishable item at the Battle Against Hunger Walker Area Food Shelf table. Opening local entertainment begins with Mama Wags and Boomer followed by the headliner band Adessa and the Beat. This lineup promises to be an excellent kickoff to the Walker summer outdoor concert season.

If you’re not able to attend, donations can be made through the website at walkerareafoodshelf.com PayPal, Venmo and QR Code, mailing a check to P.O. Box 1101, Walker, MN 56484, or drop-off a donation at the Walker Area Food shelf, 8243 Industrial Park Rd. NW.

Be sure to bring a lawn chair, look and follow the directional signs posted around town to find the exact weekly venue and come ready to enjoy a great “Up North” Thursday night.

Since the venues rotate – somewhere in Walker – keep an eye on the official Walker Bay Live page for weekly location announcements, band lineups, food vendors and more.

We’ll see you this summer somewhere in Walker!

Terri Fierstine, Walker Area Food Shelf Board member

04/29/2026

🌟 Together, our YOUTH can accomplish so much! 📣
On April 8th, Hope Lutheran Church Confirmation students and their mentors gathered to spend time together through service. They packed 5 different meals for local families experiencing food insecurity with The Outreach Program of BLA. The meals packed provide lots of nutrients, including protein, vitamins, and minerals. Each kit included ingredients such as rice, pasta, beans, and seasoning and only requires 3-8 cups of boiling water making it easy for families to prepare balanced meals with minimal cooking effort.

The project was made possible through donations from confirmation students, their mentors and a few congregation members contributing over $1000! In addition, money from Thrivent Choice Dollars was approved by the church council to help pay for the meals. Thank you to all who donated.

During a Wednesday night service, a large pyramid of the packed food was built near the altar, where it received a special blessing. Following worship, the youth packed up the boxes and donated them to the Wolf Pack Pantry, Little Free Pantry, and the Walker Area Food Shelf.

Well done, community youth! We appreciate you! 🙌

04/29/2026

04/28/2026

🌷🌼 On April 22nd the second Walker Area Food Shelf volunteer luncheon was held at Hope Lutheran Church in Walker.
Many of the valuable volunteers showed up for this fun event and we are very grateful for their dedicated service to the local food shelf, whether it is working during open hours on Tuesdays, stocking shelves during various shifts during the week, helping with truck deliveries and events that take place in the beautiful Walker community.
On behalf of the Walker Area Food Shelf, we would like to thank the host of the event; Hope Lutheran Church and sponsors; Stifel Financial and Thrivent Financial. The many business and individual donations we received were from: Brittany’s Floral, Bayside Bar & Grill, TJ’s Floral & Gifts, Walker Bay Coffee, The Piggy BBQ, Tianna Country Club, Subway, Jimmy’s Family Restaurant, Walker Building Center, Ortons, Laporte Grocery, Walker Home Center, Jenny’s Beehive, Terri Fierstine, Hannah Sylstad, and Roxanne Johnson.
The tables of happy volunteers enjoyed the lunch and of course the dessert table! Most of all we are very thankful for the loyal service given by those in the community who choose to volunteer as you are invaluable to donate your time and talents to help neighbors in our community.
If you are interested in volunteering at the Walker Area Food Shelf, please visit walkerfoodshelf.com and click on the volunteer tab.

03/31/2026

📣 Thank you Rendezvous Brewing for your support during our March Campaign! 📣

Andrew Soleta, of the Walker Area Food Shelf, receives a check from Rendezvous Brewing owners Doug and Sue Toth at Saturday's fundraising event.