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VOL. 124 NO. 25 www.whitebearpress.com $1.00
COVID-19: White Bear Lake extends state of emergency PAGE 12A
Food shelf’s ‘nojudgment zone’ embraces influx of new clients BY SHANNON GRANHOLM LEAD EDITOR
As more and more people find themselves out of a job amid the COVID-19 pandemic, area food shelves are doing all they can to ensure that they can meet the increased demand. The White Bear Lake Emergency Food Shelf and the Centennial Community Food Shelf have both adapted their operations to minimize health risks to staff members, volunteers and clients.
Blood drive still on, thanks to coordinated effort BY DEBRA NEUTKENS STAFF WRITER
When First Presbyterian Church was forced to cancel its April blood drive amid COVID-19 concerns, organizers scrambled to find another venue. They reached out to the White Bear Rotary Club, which was having a blood drive of its own, for help. Thanks to Rotarians like Bryan Belisle, who made the arrangements, and the city, for opening the Armory, the Community Blood Drive is still on April 21. It couldn’t come at a better time. Red Cross Communications SEE BLOOD DRIVE, PAGE 6A
SUBMITTED | KEVIN DONAVAN
The White Bear Lake Rotary Club holds annual blood drives, like this one last year at the Armory. Members are assisting in a second community drive organized by First Presbyterian Church April 21.
White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf
SEE FOOD SHELF, PAGE 6A
Historic White Bear Lake ice out dates 1928 1938 1948 1958
April 2 March 31 April 10 April 11
March 31 April 17 April 7 April 3
1968 April 23 2008 1978 May 4 2018 1988 THINK YOU KNOW THIS YEARS DATE? 1998 Email your guess to: whitebearnews@presspubs.com for a chance to win a prize.
PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
Open water on White Bear Lake was seen near the Matoska Park shoreline last week. The bridge leading to Manitou Island is seen in the background. The official ice out in 2019 was declared the morning of Thursday, April 18. The earliest recorded ice out was March 16, 2016, while the latest was May 4, 2018, beating out the 1950 record by a few hours.
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The White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf first started planning how it was going to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of March. By mid-March, the nonprofit had made the tough decision to suspend its most of its normal programming, suspend the use of volunteers and transition to a drive-up model. “Our building is pretty small; it can get a little congested, so we just knew that that was going to be a major issue to have volunteers in and out, people coming back from spring break, snowbirds coming back,” Executive Director Perry Peterson explained. “We no longer have volunteers. That’s a big deal. Our volunteers are the lifeblood of this organization.” Without volunteers, the organization’s five staff members have had to step up and put in more hours than usual. “We have had to refocus our roles to deal with the immediate emergency. That is just kind of the reality for us,” Peterson said. “Our staff is really focused on our main mission, and that is food insecurity.” The food shelf has suspended its Bonus Saturday program, but still offers driveup services from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is important to note that people can stop by at any time during that time frame. “Please don’t feel like you have to come early; it creates a traffic jam,” Peterson explained. “We are not really set up to deal with 20 cars in a row in our little parking lot.”