The Open Door provides families opportunities to grow their own food through our Garden to Table program. With 7 community gardens around Dakota County, we support families that want to grow their own food.
Volunteers for the Garden to Table program support the upkeep of the gardens by composting, mulching, and weeding. Volunteers with carpentry skills are also helpful to repair fencing or fixing raised beds.
We have several shift options in the mornings beginning at 8:00 am until 11:30 am, April through October. We also provide additional flexibility for ongoing volunteers.
If interested, please reach out to Volunteer Services at volunteer@theopendoorpantry.org or fill out our Volunteer Application and mark Garden to Table as the role interested in.
Food shelf visits in Minnesota have surged to record levels.
This dramatic increase reflects the growing strain on households as food costs
remain high and critical safety-net programs face uncertainty. In recent years,
as changes and challenges to SNAP benefits and other federal supports
were debated and implemented, food shelves experienced ripple effects, with an
even greater number of neighbors turning to charitable food assistance to
fill widening gaps.