St. Paul Park, Minnesota – April 20, 2023 – At a time when individuals and households throughout Minnesota are experiencing hardships in numbers never seen before, Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless (OYH) Foundation is working hard to ensure their funding reaches those in need in every corner of the state.

In their most recent spring funding cycle, Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless has granted Basic Needs Inc. of South Washington County with $8,710 to expand their rescue food efforts.

Basic Needs Inc. of South Washington County serves to support the basic needs of those in their community with housing, food, clothing, and coordinated services. Funding from Open Your Heart will provide Basic Needs Inc. of South Washington County with a new commercial refrigerator and freezer. The new refrigerator and freezer will support Basic Needs Inc. of South Washington County in expanding their food rescue efforts and providing free food, with no eligibility requirements, to 32,000 households a year.

Since 1986, the Open Your Heart Foundation has ensured that emergency shelters, food shelves and domestic violence shelters throughout Minnesota have the tools, equipment and infrastructure necessary to best serve those in need.

Open Your Heart awards funds every three months and provides emergency support within days during a crisis. They support programs in communities where many traditional funders do not reach – food shelves, domestic violence shelters, and homeless programs in small communities and sparsely served remote corners of the state. Through this direct support, Open Your Heart helps these organizations provide safe and dignified environments for people across Minnesota.

For more information about Open Your Heart, grantees or the grant application process visit www.oyh.org. To learn more about Basic Needs Inc. of South Washington County, visit http://www.basicneedsmn.org.