Families piled into the Fairview Community and Wellness Hub on Tuesday, formerly known as St. Joseph’s Hospital, for the second annual Harvest at the Hub food giveaway.

The line extended back from the Hub’s entrance, through a hallway and into the parking structure. Although the Hub had pre-registered families with specific times to show up, people started showing up early to get what they needed for Thanksgiving meals. Once the line got moving, though, it ran smoothly and Terese Hill, supervisor of Food Systems Strategy, said they expected to feed 400 families with 358 turkeys, 200 chickens, 100 hams and over 1,000 pounds of sides that include produce and stuffing.

Across town, a chilly and gray Monday morning greeted volunteers at the Union Gospel Mission’s Men’s Campus. Bundled up in coats and hats and gloves, they worked together to unload cardboard boxes of produce, organize them into bags with potatoes and stuffing, and hand all that and the turkey too over to the eager hands of thousands of drivers lined up in their cars.

This holiday tradition has lasted for 65 years, according to the Mission. Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week are spent handing out food to those experiencing food insecurity and homelessness, while Thanksgiving Day itself features a hot lunch at the Men’s Campus. Meals are served every day at the mission, buffet style, but on Thanksgiving, Christmas and, for the first time in 2024, Easter, the special holiday meals are served by volunteers to a predicted 300 to 400 hungry mouths.

New Wellness Hub

The Hub at the former St. Joseph’s is partnered with other organizations that already existed in St. Paul, including The Sanneh Foundation, Minnesota Community Care and World Youth Connect. These connections are what Hill described as a “wheel and spoke” form of partnership: “Our approach … has been about co-design.” She said the Harvest at the Hub aimed to provide an “open door” experience for community members.

The Sanneh Foundation, which focuses on empowering youth as well as food giveaways to those in need, operated out of its Conway Community Center headquarters and through farmers market-like pop-ups before partnering with the Hub. According to Brandon Griffon, the senior vice president of operations at the Sanneh Foundation, partnering with the Hub and getting access to building facilities allowed them to have storage and training space.

“It’s about exploring the social determinants for health,” Griffon said about hosting a food giveaway at what used to be a community hospital. “Food is a universal need, everyone’s gotta eat.”

Through the Sanneh Foundation, the Hub also employs people from World Youth Connect, an organization seeking to help young people make a difference in communities.

“This was my therapy,” said World Youth Connect’s 24-year-old CEO DeJiohn “DJ” Brooks. “I love being part of the community. These are people I know.”

Brooks said World Youth Connect employs over 60 young people, a group that includes 15 different ethnicities. The work he does, he said, does not feel like work.

“It is a great experience,” said Tyler Spivui, an employee of World Youth Connect who was overseeing the food line Tuesday. “It helps build character and development.”

Another World Youth Connect member who was helping put food in bags, Kamiyan Oliver, said that the experience was heartwarming and fun.

Volunteers Samantha Fischer, facing at center left, and Khashia Yang, facing right, talk with families during a Thanksgiving Community Event at Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub where people could get holiday groceries plus free flu shots, blood pressure tests and other well-being services. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Ingrid Johanssen, Director of Community Clinical Care at the Hub, who was helping to provide free flu shots and blood pressure checks as an additional service to those who showed up to the Harvest at the Hub event, said the collaborative nature of the event “speaks to the power of partnerships, and what we can accomplish for the community by working together.”

Jessica, who asked to be identified by her first name only, is a mother who moved to the area last year.

“It’s a really nice thing they’re doing for the community,” Jessica said. “It’s nice that they’re all coming together.”

Gospel Mission meals

Serving food on holidays gives volunteers a chance to connect with community members in need, said Sarah Peterka, director of community relations at the Union Gospel Mission.

“It’s a lot of joy, a lot of smiles,” Peterka said. “And it gives us an opportunity to eliminate stigmas about homelessness.”

Pam Stegora Axberg, Union Gospel Mission’s CEO of three years, agreed.

“We get to meet people where they’re at,” she said. “We believe we’re showing God’s love by providing.”

Many food donations are received from individual community members, but the Gospel Mission also purchased turkeys, while 16,000 pounds of potatoes were donated by Edling Farms and 300 extra turkeys were donated by Swanson Meats.

Over the past few years, the Gospel Mission has devised a “drive thru” system where drivers in three lanes pick up their meals at six different stations.

“COVID was really the mother of invention on that one,” Stegora Axberg said. “It allows us to hand out food much more quickly.”

A volunteer at one such station, Per Christensson, has been working the Mission’s holiday food drives for over a decade. Christensson said he enjoys helping people get on their feet, and he agreed with Peterka’s sentiment that volunteering helps break down stigmas about homelessness.

“It helps me realize we’re not different at all,” Christensson said. “One event is all it takes to be on the streets.”

Another volunteer, Julie Shappell, works with Community Action. She was at the food distribution event with a group of teammates for her fourth year in a row. Shappell said that being there with a group not only works as team building and as a part of Community Action’s outreach, but also helps connect with the community, particularly with other volunteers from the Christ Recovery Center.

One of the children who attended the 2022 sit-down Thanksgiving lunch at the Union Gospel Mission in St. Paul colored this placemat. (Sarah Peterka / Union Gospel Mission)

“They’re people, they have a heart and they love what they do,” Shappell said.

The Christ Recovery Center is one of the Gospel’s other programs, where men receive AA and faith-based treatment for addiction. Volunteering at the Thanksgiving Food Distribution event is part of that program.

Godana Wako, a participant in the Christ Recovery Center program, has experienced homelessness before, and empathized with the people he provided food to on Monday.

“I’ve been where they’ve been, I’ve been there,” Wako said. “UGM does so much for me, it feels good to contribute.”

How to help or get help

More information about donating to Union Gospel Mission or receiving assistance can be found at their website: ugmtc.org.

More information on the Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub, including future food giveaway events, can be found at their website: fairview.org/east-metro/wellness-hub.

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