CARGILL GROCERY HUNT

ICA greatly appreciated the efforts of CARGILL employees from the business units of Ag Horizons, Malt, Salt, and Animal Nutrition. The first ever grocery scavenger hunt for ICA was great fun and had wonderful results! Because of the $10,000 that ICA received that day, ICA reached our 2008 MN FoodShare goal of 125,000—combination of dollars and pounds—by March 31. $10,000 was 8% of our goal! And the additional $10,000 match from Cargill Global will bump our April donations as well, so we can continue to feed our neighbors in need and buy more nutritional food for distribution. Of course, our congratulations to the Ag Horizons Employees who won the competition, but—as was mentioned—ICA’s clients—your neighbors in need—are the real winners!

Thank you to Les Iceton and Cheryl Hunter of Cargill for arranging this and to corporate for approval and matching of the funds! And to all the employees who were willing to rise early, do some running and lifting, and help ICA—you are our heroes!

Thank you to Cub Foods for hosting what ICA is anticipating will be an annual event!

FINAL MN FOODSHARE TOTAL!

MARCH MN FOODSHARE—2008
ICA GOAL—125,000—Combination of Dollars & Pounds

Thanks to the generosity prominent in all ICA donors, ICA reached and surpassed its March MN FoodShare goal of 125,000—combination of dollars and pounds. Our final total is 156,630! Of this total, $104,408 are dollars and 52,222 are pounds of food! This awesome response is greatly appreciated. You have the giving spirit!

The funds raised from the Hopkins and Minnetonka Schools in their Empty Bowls and Full Bowls events were the highest ever! These events accounted for almost 50,000 of our 156,630 total. To have our youth (and their parents and the staff at our schools) have the empathy and concern to raise these funds for their neighbors in need is so admirable. Thank you! Thank you!

ICA’s business partners helped us in many ways from sponsoring a grocery scavenger hunt to food drives to in-kind donations of bread and produce from our grocery stores—all again modeling a generosity that is so very admirable and appreciated.

The many individuals who responded with their dollars and volunteer time are invaluable to ICA. All of the 52,222 pounds that ICA received had to be delivered to ICA, unloaded, weighed, sorted, and packed for our clients. This food should last us for six weeks.

The civic organizations—Lions, Rotarians, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Chambers of Commerce, to name a few—again pooled resources to assist ICA in our mission as well.

Our 33 congregations continue to be very supportive and we appreciate their ongoing food drives, monthly donations, and volunteer groups.

This is a truly rewarding time to work at ICA. We are once again made aware of your generous support and we thank you for your help in fulfilling ICA’s mission: to offer hope as we provide assistance to our neighbors in need!

ICA has been evaluated by the Charities Review Council and has met all standards.

GROCERY DASH - MARCH 28, 2008

Cargill and Cub Foods are sponsoring a grocery dash next Friday, March 28, at Cub Foods 101 & 7. The event will be held between 7:30 AM and 9:30 AM and will benefit ICA. This is called “Feed the City Challenge” and is a 4C event—Cargill Customer Community Collaboration.

Four different business units at Cargill are participating—Malt, Animal Nutrition, Ag Horizons and Salt. Each unit has a team of eight members and all four units have committed to donate $2,500 for purchase of groceries for ICA.

This dash will be different from the one at Cub Shorewood in that each team will be given a detailed list of items to purchase. This list was developed in collaboration with ICA. The teams will be judged on their accuracy, time, and safety.

The monies and pounds donated from this event will be added to March MN FoodShare total.

March MN FoodShare Goal

MARCH 2008– MINNESOTA FOODSHARE MONTH
ICA GOAL - 125,000 DOLLARS/POUNDS

ICA Mission Statement: “To offer hope as we provide assistance to our neighbors in need”
ICA appreciates your past generosity and looks forward to your continued support during March 2008 – Minnesota FoodShare Month. Our goal of 125,000—combination of dollars and pounds—is considerably larger than our 100,000 goal last year. In 2007, our total donations for March were 116,214, so the 125,000 goal is attainable with your support. All donations made during March are eligible for incentives from Minnesota FoodShare and Feinstein Foundation which increase the value of each and every contribution. These incentives make support of ICA, your local food shelf, especially important at this time. Also, ICA is able to increase the value of all monetary donations up to five times, by making food bank purchases allowing us to “s-t-r-e-t-c-h our dollars” and buy “more for less”! Food donations can be dropped off Monday through Friday 9 AM to 4 PM. Please call ICA at 952-938-0729 for more information.

It is fast and easy to donate on your VISA or MasterCard by visiting our website – www.icafoodshelf.org or by calling ICA at 952-938-0729. Donations may also be sent directly to ICA, 12990 St. David Road, Minnetonka 55305. Please check with your employer for possible matching funds as ICA has nonprofit status and has met the standards of the Charities Review Council.