For each Minnesota Recruiter event we are now partnering with a local community organization to highlight their needs and how we as Recruiters and HR professionals (and employers) can help support their mission.

For our Fall 2008 event we are supporting Second Harvest Heartland and collected 349 pounds of donated food and other goods from attendees that were distributed in time for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

We heard from Rob Zeaske, Executive Director of Second Harvest Heartland, about how with current economic conditions the needs of their organization and others like them are growing by the week.

Rob presented this video that moved many to tears:

Prior to the event in material we sent out we learned that Second Harvest Heartland through their buying power and other partnerships can turn $1 into $9 of food.

Many of the attendees asked if rather than donate food that day if they could donate cash instead so we have set up a donation page:

http://www.2harvest.org/minnesotarecruiters/

All who donate between November 21^st and December 12^th will be recognized in an upcoming email. Also, if you donate $25 or more you will later be sent via email a code from ERE for an extra 5% discount on top of the 10% they area offering our group.

If you would like to do a company fundraiser on behalf of Second Harvest Heartland please contact Heidi Yankovec, Events Manager, hyankovec@2harvest.org

Here are some statistics regarding hunger in our community:

• The fastest growing group of food shelf clients is the working poor. 49% of the families who accessed food shelves in 2004 were working
• Unfortunately, as the economy has worsened in recent months, increased demand at food shelves has resulted in diminishing food reserves.
• The need to support hunger relief in Minnesota is increasingly important. Last year, there were about 482,000 Minnesotans in poverty, up 60,000 from 2006, and 1.9 million visits to Minnesota food shelves.
• The food shelves SHH works with are reporting that the need for emergency food is up about 50% over last year and rising steadily. And with the cost of everyday food items like milk increasing, these visits will continue to rise.
• For many Minnesotans, hunger is all too real. In fact, one in ten Minnesotans will struggle to have enough food this week. Many are children.
• Despite the fact that SHH distributed 41 million pounds of food last year (an increase of 20% over the previous year), demand is still outpacing supply.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Paul DeBettignies
Minnesota Recruiters
Co Founder & Coordinator
paul@mnheadhunter.com