Shelves sit half empty at the San Francisco Food Bank November 20, 2007 in San Francisco, California. As the holiday season approaches, food banks across the U.S. are reportedly facing major shortages in food donations from manufacturers and wholesalers and a decrease in federal funding, while the demand for food handouts are increasing. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The end of February marks the start of Minnesota’s FoodShare month, and the city of Stillwater has a unique way that residents can help those who are hungry.

Instead of paying the city $15 for a parking ticket in March, Minnesotans can instead opt to donate canned goods to the Valley Outreach food shelf.

“We’re asking residents to come forward with 10 non-perishable items,” said Tracy Maki, the executive director of Valley Outreach.

Although the state’s economy is on the upswing and unemployment is around 3 percent, Minnesota families are still struggling, Maki said.

“In our community, and I think we are mirroring the rest of the state as well, we are seeing an increasing need,” she said.

Maki added that Stillwater, which is just east of the Twin Cities metro, is much like a suburb, and like other suburbs across the nation, it is seeing an increase in poverty.

“Folks aren’t quite making it,” she said. “In our area, it’s called situation poverty.”

That means people are working and can’t quite make ends meet, they recently got laid off or have been struggling to pay costly medical bills.

“Poverty is messy,” Maki said. “There’s not always one reason.”

She said that food shelf users generally need help for a few months.

Valley Outreach serves just under 4,000 individuals, Maki said. In the last year, 42 percent of the food shelf’s clients were new users. Many of them were also children.

What Do Food Shelves Need?

Food sources high in protein, Maki said. Those include nut butters, like peanut butter and almond butter. Canned meat and fish are also good options.