Kids Against Hunger finds new Mankato home

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - For more than 20 years, the local chapter of Kids Against Hunger has been a hub for groups looking to volunteer to make a difference in world hunger.

For a while the group made their home in the Mankato Place Mall. But they left that location more than a decade ago and have since been setting up wherever they can find space.

“It’s kind of like a band that travels around and who knows where they’re going to play next and what they’re going to do next,” the leader of Mankato’s chapter Tim Stromer said.

But now they’ve found a home once again.

The Mankato Place Mall has donated the former Red Rocks space to the group, and this Saturday will see the group hosting volunteers for the first time in ten years.

That area of the mall is slated for demolition later this year to make room for residential space, so the group won’t be doing any renovations until the mall moves them into a more permanent space.

Kids Against Hunger events see volunteers packing bags of food to be shipped around the world.

The nutritional measurements are precise, and the ingredients are bought in bulk. All that’s left is the manpower to package them, which is typically handled by volunteer groups with scouting troops, church groups or community outreach group.

The return to a permanent space is something that organizers hope will ramp up the opportunities to make a difference.

“Even though it’s temporary, it does feel like this is a home now,” Stromer said.

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