Columbia Heights food shelf expands to meet growing need

The Southern Anoka County Assistance food shelf (SACA) is expanding to meet a growing need in Columbia Heights. Earlier this month, the food shelf opened a newly renovated building on California Street Northeast, three times the size of their previous location.

"Our former building could fit inside of this room," said Leigh McCarren, development and communications manager, while walking through the warehouse. "Before we were serving about 40 families-a-day. Now, we're averaging around like 140. So, it's a huge shift."
SACA has served the community north of Minneapolis for 50 years and in 2020 started dreaming of an expansion. In 2023, the nonprofit received both federal and state dollars. After demolition, cleaning and renovation, the new food shelf opened in April of this year.

The shelf is set up 'market' style and no appointments are necessary. McCarren says this helps remove some barriers to get more families through the door.

"I have three children and another one on the way," said Naphtali, as she walked through selecting items for her family."A lot of times our food support runs out before the end of the month."

McCaren said they started to see increasing need during the pandemic. The Food Group is based in Minnesota and tracks visits to food shelves across the state. Their data shows a spike in need in 2022, with numbers increasing each year after. According to their 2025 report, Minnesotans visited food shelves over 9 million times last year.  

Along with the food shelf, the building also houses a thrift shop. SACA aims to keep the prices low, usually around a few dollars per item.  

SACA staff and volunteers believe they'll continue to see the number of visitors grow.