The Salvation Army Northern Division serving Minnesota and North Dakota is set to receive over $68,000 i donation thanks to a fundraiser hosted by the NFL during the NFL Draft in April.
A 2020 'Draft-A-Thon' sought to bring in donations for six non-profits and their COVID-19 relief efforts. Each of the NFL's 32 teams selected one or more of the organizations to receive a portion of the funding.
The Minnesota Vikings chose the Salvation Army Northern Division, which is tackling a number of issues during COVID-19, including a skyrocketing demand for food.
"At just one of our sites, we've seen over a 900% increase in food needs," Brian Molohon, the Executive Director of Development of the Salvation Army Northern Division, said. "Our Citadel St. Paul location handed out its 10,000th box of food since the pandemic began."
The food demands during COVID-19 are on-top of the demands before the pandemic began.
"On average, we're seeing about 300 to 500 percent increases in food needs," Molohon said. "This includes all the people we were serving before this happened, but also a new generation of poverty is showing up at our doorsteps."
As an essential service, the all of the Salvation Army's sites in Minnesota and North Dakota have remained open. Congregate meals have turned into pick-up meals and church services have moved online.
"The closest comparison to COVID-19 response is when we show up to a natural disaster. That certainly has prepared us to a degree for COVID-19," Molohon said. "What's so unique now is this virus impacts everybody in every corner of society. It's certainly strained our systems, processes, and finances."
Last year in the Northern Division, the Salvation Army 324,000 people. Molohon says many of them are still in need and that doesn't factor in those in need because of COVID-19.
"There was some flooding in North Dakota this year. We're still helping people deal with that," he said. "There's still so many people in-need from last year and we expect that to go on for a while. Just because we're opening up more in Minnesota, things are not going to change dramatically. It's going to be a very slow recovery for folk’s in-need."
The Salvation Army Northern Division is still asking for volunteer help. They are able to provide proper personal protective equipment to those who want to help pack food, sanitize and clean, or other needed duties.
You can find out how to volunteer with the Salvation Northern Division here.
