Sioux Falls hunger website launches Friday

Businesses and organizations are teaming up to address a growing problem with hunger in our region. So a new project is underway to help families facing food insecurity.

Over 23,000 people in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties are food insecure. So, on Friday a new website will launch that aims to connect those who are hungry to food right away.

“Every day we see hungry kids, hungry adults who are food insecure,” said Josh Hayes with Sioux Falls Hunger.

Those who need food assistance in Sioux Falls can now go to www.SiouxFallsHunger.com. Funded by the faith temple food giveaway, the site is one central location to find all the available feeding programs.

“To be efficient, to be able to highlight the different programs. Especially some programs, you’re only able to come to only every 90 days while others you can come to every day or every week. So with this resource, you're able to compare and say this program will work for me and my family this week,” said Hayes.

Looking for an easier way to find resources to refer people to, the Food Security Action Team of Sioux Falls Thrive set up this webpage. It also allows businesses like Rundaq to pitch in and show they're helping in the fight against food insecurity. They are displaying a decal in the window of their store to let people know about the website.

"We're seeing people starting to struggle, we see poverty and it's something that we as a business don't want to see people struggle with and although we know it's not necessarily possible to eliminate the problem, any step that anyone can take to help the problem is good,” said Austin Lureen, Owner of Rundaq.

Even though their company is not food-related, they like that they can get involved in some way and hope people see their decals and use the site.

Volunteering opportunities through the 211 Helpline Center are also available through the site and SDSU Extension will be sharing monthly nutrition tips.