Food box giveaway set for Feb. 22 at Fargo Labor Temple

FARGO - A food giveaway will be held at the Fargo Labor Temple, 3002 1st Ave. N., starting at noon on Monday, Feb. 22.

Free 30-pound boxes of food and milk will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis to anyone who comes through a contact-less drive-through system, said Mark Froemke, president of the West Red River Valley AFL-CIO.

The food is supplied by USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program. The semi truckload of food coming from the Twin Cities will have about 1,300 boxes on it, Froemke said Friday, Feb. 5.

Food will be distributed while supplies last. Froemke said people will be eligible for one or more boxes of food, depending on the size of their family. People can also pick up food for shut-ins, he said.

Froemke said he has also been in contact with representatives of the area’s religious denominations to get word out about the program.

“It’s totally free. No questions asked,” Froemke said.

Other labor groups involved in the giveaway include the North Dakota AFL-CIO, North Dakota's Building Trades Unions, the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation and St. Paul and Minneapolis building and construction trades councils.

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Froemke said many union members have been laid off during the coronavirus pandemic, but the greater community needs help, too.
"This is the way we can help our neighbors and friends and do something for the general community," he said. "It’s the right thing to do."

If the food runs out, Froemke said the labor groups will organize another semi load for the Fargo-Moorhead area. He said the goal is to help as many people as possible and to get the food to where it’s needed.

“We want to make sure that people in this terrible pandemic are helped as much as humanly possible,” Froemke said. “We’re proud to be able to lend a hand.”