The 2016 Minnesota FoodShare March campaign raised $8 million and 5.2 million pounds of food, the most combined dollars and pounds raised in the campaign’s 34-year history. The numbers, released last Friday, prompted Gov.Mark Dayton to proclaim April 29 “Minnesota FoodShare Day.”

“This was an incredible effort,” said Suzanne Shatila, director of Minnesota FoodShare. “It could not have been done without the countless Minnesotans who came together to support our program and our 300 partner food shelves across the state.”

Themed “A Different Kind of Food Fight,” this year’s March campaign saw food and fund drives big and small, all equally important to their communities and food shelves. Notable accomplishments from across the state include:

Hundreds of congregations across Minnesota joined forces in the fight against hunger during “Pack the Pews” weekend, March 18 through March 20. Congregants packed the pews, stuffed the sanctuary and lined the lobby with bags of food donations for local food shelves.

Students at Anderson Elementary School in Stillwater brought food donations to their classrooms and donated 1,106 pounds of food to the Valley Outreach food shelf.

FINNEGANS Brew Co. teamed up with chefs in the Twin Cities for a “Chef Food Fight.” Chefs at participating restaurants created special menu items made with FINNEGANS beer. Customers voted for their favorites online and a portion of the proceeds from each menu item benefited Minnesota FoodShare.

Western State Bank in Fargo, North Dakota collected 900 pounds of food for Emergency Food Pantry.

WCCO-TV hosted an on-air telethon for Minnesota FoodShare on March 31 which raised a total of $15,000. A highlight of the day was when Jason DeRusha took a pie to the face to thank several viewers for their $1,000 gifts.

In 2015 there were more than 3.2 million visits to Minnesota’s food shelves and one in 10 Minnesotans experienced food insecurity. “Without the hard work and dedication of thousands of volunteers and staff at food shelves, many in our state would have nowhere to go when they are not able to make ends meet,” said Jason DeRusha, WCCO-TV anchor and honorary chair of this year’s Minnesota FoodShare March campaign.

The March campaign, the only food and fund drive of its kind, raises a large portion of the food distributed by 300 food shelves annually and every dollar donated to Minnesota FoodShare during the March Campaign goes directly to these food shelves.

Contributions to the Minnesota FoodShare Food Fund during the March Campaign are distributed to food shelves in mid-summer, when the need for additional support is crucial once again.

For more information on Minnesota FoodShare and its other programs, including GardenShare and the Harvest Campaign, visit gmcc.org/minnesotafoodshare.