Heroes Wear Jeans, Food Shelves Gain Generous Donations During Minnesota FoodShare Month

MAPLE GROVE, MN--(Marketwired - May 21, 2013) - For the month of March employees of TopLine Federal Credit Union exchanged donations of food and cash to the Community Emergency Assistance Programs (CEAP) and Keystone Community Services food shelves for the chance to wear jeans on Fridays and Saturdays. When the program ended on March 31^st TopLine's 92 employees and many generous members had donated over 500 pounds of food and over $230 in cash to help restock the local agencies' food shelves. Demand for food has risen, food shelf visits increased by 7.5% from 2010.

"TopLine employees and members once again demonstrated their support for the community during the annual food drive event," says Harry Carter, TopLine president and CEO. "Food shelves are seeing a huge rise in families in crisis, needing food, and our employees and members continue to eagerly help serve our community."

Minnesota's 300 food shelves continue to serve a record number of people, more than three million visits alone last year. According to the Twin Cities Hunger Initiative, of those visiting food shelves: 50% are children, 11% are children that skip meals regularly due to a lack of food, 43% are parents skipping meals due to a lack of enough food, 20% are senior citizens and 43% have jobs, but need to choose between paying for food and paying other bills like rent, utilities or medications.

This year's March FoodShare campaign theme, "Be a Hero in the Fight Against Hunger," has been a rousing success. CEAP showed a record breaking month as they raised $166,648 and 117,170 pounds of food for families in need for Hennepin and Anoka counties. Keystone is also proud to share that they received $78,868 and 36,843 pounds in food donations to help Ramsey county families in crisis.

Each year during the month of March CEAP and Keystone participate in the statewide food and fund drive to restock pantry shelves. For donors' efforts, a portion of every dollar and pound of food raised is matched by Minnesota FoodShare.

TopLine employees were able to participate by donating money and/or food to the food drive in exchange for a "Denim Days" sticker, allowing them to wear jeans to work on Fridays and Saturdays during the four-week program.

CEAP (Community Emergency Assistance Programs), serving Hennepin and Anoka Counties, is a community-based, non-profit agency that partners with other resources to assist people in need. The mission of CEAP is to stabilize individuals and families in financial distress and to maximize their ability to live independently and with dignity. Visit www.CEAP.com to learn more.

Keystone Community Services is a community-based volunteer organization in St. Paul that helps thousands of low-income individuals and families in the East Metro Area. Keystone's mission is to strengthen the capacity of individuals and families to improve their quality of life. Visit www.keystoneservices.org to learn more.

TopLine Federal Credit Union, a Twin Cities-based credit union, is Minnesota's 13^th largest, with assets of more than $340 million. Established in 1935, the not-for-profit cooperative offers a complete line of financial services, as well as auto and home insurance, from its five locations -- in Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove, Plymouth and in St. Paul's Como Park -- as well as by phone and online at www.TopLinecu.com. Membership is available to anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or volunteers in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott or Washington Counties and their immediate family members.