What Is Second Harvest Heartland (2harvest.org)?

Updated

Second Harvest Heartland is a hunger-relief nonprofit and food bank serving Minnesota and western Wisconsin. If you need free food or help applying for SNAP, you can call its Care Center at 866-844-3663. If you want to donate or volunteer, the site is built for that too. The organization describes itself as one of the nation's largest hunger relief agencies, with a mission to make sure healthy, nutritious food reaches households that need it.

Who it serves and where

The service area is local: Minnesota and Wisconsin, referred to on the site as "the heartland." The people it reaches include families, single parents, seniors, and anyone facing a stretch where money for food runs out. The site frames hunger as something that "can happen to anyone," and its client stories include a single mother using prepared meals from a program partner, a SNAP recipient managing health problems, and a family relying on a local food shelf.

What it actually does

Second Harvest Heartland works as a food bank rather than a direct grocery store. Its stated work falls into three buckets:

  • Source and distribute food — moving healthy, nutritious food efficiently to the households that need it.
  • Advocate for policies and programs — pushing for effective food assistance policy, including programs like SNAP.
  • Invest in new approaches — funding and testing new ways to end hunger.

Because it operates as a hub, most people don't get food directly from Second Harvest Heartland. Instead, food moves through a network of local food shelves and meal programs, like the Kitchen Coalition meals and Valley Outreach food shelf mentioned in client stories on the site.

If you need food

The site's "Need help now?" path is the fastest route:

  1. Call the Care Center at 866-844-3663.
  2. Get free help finding food near you.
  3. Get free help applying for SNAP.

The site also offers a "Find Food Near You" tool for locating free food by location. Both the phone line and the food-finding help are described as free.

If you want to give or get involved

The homepage highlights a Hunger Action Month 2× match: every $1 donated by 9/30 can double in impact to provide 6 meals. The site's own examples show the math it uses — $30 provides 90 meals, $50 provides 150 meals, $100 provides 300 meals. A donation form on the page lets you enter an amount and donate.

Beyond money, the site references volunteers (one volunteer, Darlene, is quoted) and cause-marketing partners such as Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union. If you're considering volunteering or a corporate partnership, the "Support Our Mission" section is the starting point.

How to decide if this is the right resource

  • You need food in Minnesota or western Wisconsin → Call 866-844-3663 or use the Find Food Near You tool.
  • You need help applying for SNAP → The Care Center handles that at no cost.
  • You're outside Minnesota/Wisconsin → This is a regional food bank; use Feeding America's national food bank locator to find the agency covering your area.
  • You want to donate or volunteer → The site's donation and mission pages are the direct route, and matching campaigns like the 2× match can change what your dollar does.

The core takeaway: 2harvest.org is both a help line for people who need food and a donation/volunteer hub for people who want to fund that work — but its reach is regional, so location matters before anything else.